Flashover
by TheRealEvanSG
Summary: Evan Gamble never asked to be mistaken for the leader of the League of Witches and be kidnapped across dimensions. But at least he got a Quirk and an amazing new host family out of the deal. Now he's going to use this new life to become a pro hero alongside his new host brother... but the League of Villains seems dedicated to getting in his way. [SI, Evan x Jirou]
1. And Fate Never Gave Me the Sign-Up Sheet

Chapter 1 – And Fate Never Gave Me the Sign-Up Sheet

Now, when the giant wall of green appeared in front of me as I was walking home from my school in Brazil during my Youth Exchange, I had just three thoughts in my mind. Thought number one: _I need to watch less anime._ Thought number two: _I really need to write less self-inserts; they're starting to leak into the real world._ Thought number three: _This better not fucking be_ The Familiar of Zero! _That show is absolute shit and I don't care how many fanboys I just insulted, because it's true! I refuse to be a whiny midget witch's bitch!_

"No," I told the green, transparent wall. "I refuse."

I tried to walk around it. The wall simply shifted locations to once again be directly in front of me. My eye twitched. I wore a white shirt, a warm black hoodie with a green hood and stripes of green running down its seams, and a pair of black track pants, also with green on their seams—not exactly good clothing to be transported to some fantasy world in. (Well, then again, Natsuki Subaru had ended up in _his_ world in a full track suit, so I couldn't complain too much.) What was this world going to be, anyway? Bleach? Harry Potter? At least if it's Bleach I might be able to shoot up my power level pretty quickly without too much pain…

Oh, who am I kidding? I've written enough self-inserts of various series at this point to know that there is definitely another version of me somewhere out there in the multiverse pounding away at a keyboard. And knowing me, being my own self insert means _pain_.

I wanted none of that. The less pain I had to go through, the happier I was, in my opinion.

I stomped around the strange wall, which was clearly a portal to another dimension, and continued forward on my way home. The portal again teleported directly in front of me. I screeched to a halt before I could accidentally step foot into it, and dashed around it, tearing off down the sidewalk. People looked at me strangely; here was this mostly pale American kid with weird tan lines, decked out in the uniform of one of the local high schools, running at full speed in… eighty-degree weather? It felt like eighty-degree weather. They had the right to give me some weird looks; I doubted they could see the very obvious portal chasing me, because they paid absolutely no attention to it.

"GET AWAY FROM ME!" I screamed over my shoulder at it, pissed. It was quickly catching up, floating through the air with surprising speed. "I HAVE TOO MUCH TO WRITE ANYWAY! I'M DOING THIS FOR YOU, OTHER ME! DON'T WE HAVE LIKE, FOUR OTHER STORIES IN THE WORKS ALREADY!? GIVE YOURSELF A FUCKING BREAK AND LEAVE ME ALONE!"

That earned me yet _more_ curious stares, especially from the pedestrians who understood English, but I hardly gave a single fuck at that point. I actually had a pretty good life going right about now. I did _not_ want to lose it.

Soundlessly, the portal zipped in front of me, and unfortunately, at that point I was going too fast to stop. I ran straight into it, screaming a final message to the guy behind the keyboard:

"YEAH, WELL, FUCK YOU, TOO!"

My vision went green. Suddenly, pain flared in my body—unspeakable pain, pain like I'd never felt before. I screamed as every cell suddenly felt like it was being stomped on, squashed, and then molded like clay. It felt like my body was being broken up and put through the wash. Bile rose in my stomach, and I would've thrown up, but there was nothing to throw up into in this weird portal.

I blinked tears away, and suddenly my surroundings shifted to an old and dimly-lit stone building which was empty except for an altar, which I stood in the center of. An eerie silence, broken only by the muffled sounds of city traffic outside, hovered in the air, thick enough for my hackles to stand on end. I could practically see the dust in the dim light from the flickering electric lights overhead. Wherever the hell I was, it appeared to be late evening, as when I looked out a nearby window, the light level on the city street outside felt to be either just before nightfall or just after daybreak. Dozens of women clustered all around me, each of them wearing eccentric black clothing. All wore wide-brimmed, pointy witches' hats, like they'd been dressing up for a Halloween party.

Every cell in my body ached.

My knees crumpled and I fell backward, passing out. When I woke up, everything hurt and I couldn't move.

Well, fuck. This was happening now.

With nothing else to do, I stared forward with a deadpan. I refused to give these damn bitches the joy of seeing my scream and cry, mostly because I'd already covered that in the portal. So instead, my brain defaulted to the only thing I knew how to do to keep myself sane: sarcasm.

"You guys don't live in a castle where there's a pink-haired witch who is really bad at everything except making explosions, do you?"

The witches all frowned and looked at each other.

They said something to one another in a language I really didn't understand. Judging by their Asian facial features, I'm going to say it was… Japanese. It didn't have enough words that sounded like inappropriate jokes or funny onomatopoeias to be Chinese, and I didn't know what the hell Vietnamese sounded like, so that's what I was going with. Plus, I thought I heard some _-sans_ and - _chans_ in there, as well as maybe a - _sama_ or two, which I knew from my many hours stuck in front of a laptop screen to be Japanese honorifics.

The pain increased slightly before subsiding, leaving me with a cold sweat and ragged breathing. A deep fear rooted in my heart: Was I dying? Was this what it felt like to die?

One stepped forward, snow white hair cascading down her back despite the fact that she looked no older than her mid-twenties. Her cloak flowing behind her, she walked up the altar steps to my level, and I tensed; what did she want with me? I had no idea. I didn't speak Japanese. I was still barely able to hold a decent conversation in Portuguese! Any language outside English basically equaled plus one order of _Haha, you suck!_ , served fresh and spicy.

Before I could do anything (not that I _could_ do anything anyway), the witch-looking lady lifted her hand out and pressed the tips of her smooth, dexterous fingers to my forehead.

Pain seared through my brain like it was being overloaded with years' worth of information in one go, and like an idiot, I passed out again. I didn't even get to spat out a single, "Fuck you, you fucking bitch!" before exhausted unconsciousness overtook me.

~o~

I woke up slowly, like my consciousness was a ball on a chain that I was dragging to wakefulness. I groaned and tried to roll over, but my body protested that, so I didn't move it anymore. I rubbed my still-closed eyes with a yawn. Weird memories plagued my mind: a bunch of women decked out in early Halloween, who clearly liked _Hocus Pocus_ far too much than should be normal. Being magically kidnapped from the streets of my host city and entering excruciating pain. One of the ladies mentioned above knocking me out by merely touching my forehead.

What a weird dream, I thought, before noticing two things.

One: the bed I used in my host family's apartment was soft, not cement-level hard.

Two: Was I just thinking in Japanese? Because that thought had certainly sounded like Japanese.

My eyes opened and I was greeted with the dimly lit stone room, the convent of Japanese witches still gathered expectantly around me. A few seconds passed in which I simply stared at my supernatural kidnappers, barely holding back an eye twitch.

"Hello?" I spat out.

"Ah, Lord, you are awake!" one of the witches gasped suddenly, and somehow I was able to fully understand her this time. My brain didn't hurt anymore, either (even if the rest of me did); in the back of my mind, I realized that the white-haired witch must've somehow rewritten my brain to understand Japanese or something similar.

A weary sigh rumbled from my throat and I weakly folded my arms, biting my lip to keep from screaming curses at the absolutely _horrible_ amount of pain produced from that mere motion. "Alright, dammit, first of all, while I appreciate you calling me _Lord_ and all, I am just about the least royal person on this planet." I fixed them with a tired gaze. "And second of all, where the fuck am I, why the fuck did you bring me here, and take me the fuck back home."

The witches stared silently at me for several seconds.

"…Shouldn't that be second of all, third of all, and fourth of all?" another one of them, a short woman with… _chains?_... curling down her back instead of hair pointed out. I blinked and shuddered. That… that was just weird. Who the hell had _chains_ for hair? What world was this, even, where someone could even have that as a natural part of his or her body? And it was definitely natural, because the chains grafted so perfectly into her head, I couldn't even tell where the flesh ended and the iron began.

" _Not_ the point," I said after getting over the _what the fuck_ of seeing something that weird in real life.

Another sudden flash of increased pain for no reason made me hiss. I tasted blood; I'd bitten my lip a little too hard.

"Relax, ladies," the white-haired woman who'd knocked me out before said, stepping forward again. Now that I had more time to get a clear look at her, I could see that she had a sharp nose that sloped up slightly at the end, violet eyes, and black lipstick. I gagged inwardly at that. Man, _someone_ was edgy as fuck. "Our Lord has a right to know why we have summoned him from the world he was lost to. As you are surely aware, Lord, we are the League of Witches and you are the great Villain, Lucifer. We have summoned you from the far reaches of the multiverse with the Quirk of our newest recruit, Salem, several weeks after All Might punched you so hard that you were forced to escape to another world with your Black Hole Quirk, or risk death. The punch obviously messed something up, though, since you fail to remember any of this and were speaking a different language, so to help you, I, Satella, used my Language Quirk to allow you to once more understand Japanese."

That gave me a start. Villains… Quirks… I was in the world of _My Hero Academia_. What the fuck? I'd never heard of a League of Witches, though…

A woman to my left, so pale she resembled a vampire, waved. Red veins wove from the back of her head. She reminded me eerily of the design of the Big Bad of RWBY who was named… Salem…

I stared at her.

Salem stared at me.

I mentally facepalmed. Goddammit, other me, really? As if this world isn't fucked up already with All for One running wild and Shigaraki destined to become the next Symbol of Evil, you had to include _motherfucking SALEM_ into the mix? I groaned.

Okay, first of all, I had no idea why these ladies thought I was their "Lucifer," but I needed to set them straight. Maybe then they'd send me back to my motherfucking _HOST COUNTRY_ so I could continue my motherfucking _YOUTH EXCHANGE_ and my other world's version of me could get a motherfucking _BREAK_.

 _Meu Deus_.

"Okay, first of all," I said in perfectly fluent Japanese, "I am not Lucifer. I am Evan Gamble, I'm eighteen going on nineteen, and I have no fucking idea what's happening."

"But you are fifteen, just like you're supposed to be," Satella said with a tilt of her head. "Not eighteen."

I blinked. "What? Of course I'm eighteen."

Someone lifted up their hand and I supposed their Quirk had something to do with creating mirrors, because suddenly the skin of their hand was a perfectly clear mirror. I frowned into it… and my jaw dropped despite the flash of pain that this caused. Because even though my appearance was mostly the same, for some reason that only Jerkass Other Me™ knows, I was now about a foot shorter. Oh, and my hair had become a deep indigo for some reason.

Well… I mean, that at least looked cool, though, so… yay?

"I am not motherfucking Lucifer!" I said vehemently, more panicked now. "And wait, isn't it weird that you twenty-something-years-old women are calling a fifteen-year-old kid Lord!?"

The witches looked at each other, flabbergasted by the question.

"Um, no, Lord," Chains-for-Hair said, tilting her head. "You are our Lord, Lord."

A sweatdrop hung from my hand. Goddammit, these women were hopeless. And _what the fuck was this Lucifer guy doing with his fucked-up life anyway!? Like, seriously!?_

"Are you sure you're alright, Lord?" Salem asked innocently. "You really don't remember any of us or any of this?"

"NO, BECAUSE I'M NOT YOUR FUCKING LORD!" I exploded, my veins pulsing angrily on my forehead. I wished there was a goddamn table to flip, or at least to introduce my head to. Repeatedly. "GET THAT THROUGH YOUR THICK SKULLS!"

I was short, I was in physical agony, I was fifteen, and I was _annoyed_.

And what the witches did next really didn't help anything.

Satella sighed. "Blaire, use your Insight Quirk to prod his Quirk factor. That should be all we need to bring Lord Lucifer back to his senses."

A catwoman with purple cat ears and a purple cat tail giggled and hopped up the steps, checking me out, and I wished I could scoot back away from her without having pain erupt like a volcano in me. She looked like she wanted to do unspeakable things with me, and I wanted no part of these crazy bitches' games. But before I could try to force myself to move and haul ass out of Houston, the catwoman, whose name must've been Blaire— _again_ , _what the FUCK, Other Me!?_ —knelt down and stabbed at one of my toes with her pointer finger. Straight through my laceless shoe.

She blinked. "Wait, this is weird. Your Quirk is… the ability to discharge smoke from your body, while your body loses matter in return? That's not right… it should be Black Hole…"

"Yeah, that's because I'm not your fucking Lucifer!" I growled, and I made the mistake of sitting up to glare at her. Stabbing my toe was just not cool, and hurt like fuck. Unfortunately, that had made me momentarily forget about the _other_ thing going on with my being right now.

Pain flared, tongues of fire crackling and eating away at me. I immediately collapsed backwards again, the back of my head smacking roughly into the stone altar.

"GRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA—!" I screamed as my body _burned_ and _churned_ and _melted_. My vision swam. I was cut off by the sound of doors slamming open and police sirens, so many police sirens, and a deep voice shouting, "FEAR NOT—!"

Then I very heroically passed out again.

I was making a goddamn habit of this, wasn't I? I better not end up like my _One Piece_ SI, at least.

 _Fuck!_

~o~

I woke up to blinding lights and a lot of worried talking. My entire body ached as if something foreign had been mixed with my every cell and molecule. I opened my eyes and stared up at a white, tiled roof; a quick glance down and to the side showed me that I laid on a somewhat stiff, blue bed lacking covers, with only a white blanket on me. My body screamed when I tried to sit up, though not as bad as the last time I'd tried to. Even so, I quickly decided that maybe moving wasn't such a good idea at the moment. That left me with only one other option: continue to observe and try and figure out what the fuck was going on _now_.

A quick look around told me I was in a hospital room. As with most hospital rooms, it was rather bland and empty except for a desk, some cabinets, a curtain separating me from the other half of the room, and some medical supplies whose names I wasn't knowledgeable enough to know. Sorry, I can't be a reliable narrator about _everything_.

"Hello?" I croaked out, my voice both dry and airy.

The voices halted, and footsteps echoed. Then the curtain was pulled away, and I saw for the first time who was in the room with me. And it was… really weird seeing a man with a dog head in person. All Might was even more manly and badass in person than he was on paper, though.

"Ah, young boy!" All Might said happily, giving me a quick salute and grinning brighter than Monkey D. Luffy himself. His smile was so brilliant it should've come with a warning for people with sensitive eyes. His two prongs of blond hair sticking off the top of his head bounced a little as he nodded his head cheerfully. "I am very pleased to see you are alright. We were worried when we saw you shaking and collapsing on that altar in the League of Witches's lair. How are you feeling?"

"Like an elephant held a dance party on my body," I said bluntly.

Someone else shoved their way between the dog-headed man (the police chief, if I remembered correctly, although his name escaped me at the moment) and All Might: a grizzled old man in a white doctor's uniform. Old as he was, he stood up tall and proud, his shoulders broad and strong. His chin was pointy, and two bull horns stuck out of the top of his head. I couldn't help but stare at the sight; seeing people with animal parts was just… it was just really freaky for someone who'd just come from a completely normal world, okay? I couldn't just _ignore it_.

"That seems about right for a Quirkless person who suffered gaining a Quirk due to the side-effects of the One-Way Dimensional Portal Quirk," the doctor said, readjusting a pair of glasses that sat on his pointy nose. "Hello, young man. I am Dr. Yuni. I have been overseeing you since All Might rescued you from those villains."

"H-Hello, sir," I said, wincing as I reached out to shake his hand. My body threatened rebellion if I moved it another inch, and screamed bloody murder when Yuni grasped my hand and shook.

 _Owwwww._ Fuck you, other me. How sadistic are you, really? Or does this count as masochistic?

 _Pain sucks_.

My arm sighed in relief when I allowed it to simply drop and hang limp over the side of the hospital bed.

"So, who are you two, then?" I asked, jabbing my thumb at All Might and the police chief and wincing; damn, even that hurt. I decided it would probably be best to play it safe and pretend to be a dumb teen knowing nothing. Telling anyone that I had future knowledge in a world where Villains with pretty damn powerful Quirks ran rampant was just asking to be kidnapped and have a rescue arc started. And, my apologies, but I didn't want _anything_ to do with that. Nuh-uh, no siree. I was no one's damsel in distress.

Mr. Dog Head bowed. "It is nice to meet you. My name is Tsuragamae Kenji; I am the chief of this city's police."

All Might puffed up dramatically and flexed like a WWE wrestler. "I am All Might, the Number One Hero and Symbol of Peace! I beat up those weird ladies who kidnapped you. So my good friend Chief Tsuragamae could arrest them and put them safely in jail. The so-called League of Witches have been an unruly bunch lately, threatening our citizens' safety, and so I am afraid that they had to be taken down."

"I see," I said, smiling but flinching when I accidentally shifted my leg. "Thank you for saving me."

"You are welcome, citizen!" All Might's ridiculously charismatic laugh boomed out of his chest and somehow made everything seem so much more comfortable. "It is the duty of any hero to save those in need with a smile and a laugh! Your gratitude is all that I need! Oh, and by the way…" He winked. "I signed your blanket."

"Huh?"

I looked down and sure enough, there it was—that classic All Might signature with the star that I remembered seeing on Midoriya Izuku's notebook in… the second episode? I think it was the second. Might've been the first… my memory on that was a bit hazy, but then again, it _was_ a small detail, so… It didn't really matter?

"Well, then, young man, can you give us a full report of what happened in the lair of the League of Witches?" Chief Tsuragamae asked. I nodded, introduced myself, and proceeded to explain all the details as best as I could remember them. I did, however, strategically forget to mention knowing about Quirks and stuff beforehand.

"So what's all this stuff about Quirks and Quirkless, anyway?" I asked, playing the ignorant kid from another world who would have no way of knowing this. "And what did those women do to me?" This I was legitimately curious about. I wanted to know just _why_ my body felt like a wrecking ball had decided it was a good idea to wreck _me_.

"Quirks are basically genetic superpowers," Dr. Yuni said with an adjustment of his glasses. "Eighty percent of our entire world currently has them. Because of this surge of empowered people, Heroism is now an actual profession. As for your second question, to the best of my medical knowledge and what I know about the League of Witches's Quirks…" He shrugged. "It would appear your radical pain, deaging, and changed hair color were side-effects of jumping worlds by way of the One-Way Dimensional Portal Quirk, your understanding of Japanese was caused by the Villain Satella's Language Quirk, and your current pain was a result of you having suddenly gained a Quirk."

My jaw dropped. Come to think of it, that one Witch… er, Satella?... had said that I had the power to discharge smoke from my body. So what, was I some non-Logia version of Smoker, then? Cool. Still hurt like a _bitch_ , though, so much less cool.

"You're the first known person to survive Salem's Quirk, woof," Chief Tsuragamae told me, his tongue lolling out of his mouth. "You should feel lucky. Other victims pulled from other worlds have been found and… well, the results were never pretty. You don't want me to show you the pictures, trust me."

That sent a terrified shiver down my spine. Jeez, just how close to death had that whole ordeal brought me? Actually… that reminded me of something else I wanted to know. "How long have I been out?" I asked. Ah! And _that_ reminded me of yet another thing. "And… you guys have mentioned that Salem witch's Quirk was named… _One-Way_ Dimensional Portal… so…?"

All Might frowned, and the room suddenly felt much darker without his sunny smile. "You've been out for one week, nearly," he said, his voice losing its cheerful demeanor."And… I am afraid that the portal only works when pulling people from other dimensions. They cannot take people from this one to others. It is also currently a one-of-a-kind Quirk. I am sorry… but I am afraid you will not be able to return to your homeworld."

That sobered up the mood in the hospital room real quick. All Might's fists clenched and shook at his side. I wondered what was going on in his head. Did he blame himself for my dimensional kidnapping? _If I'd arrived just a little sooner, this poor kid wouldn't have been taken away from everything he'd ever known._ Is that was he was thinking? Wondering this soured my mood even more, and I desperately wanted to curl up into a ball. I couldn't even do that, though.

I cast wet eyes up to my hospital room's ceiling.

Sure, I had gained smoke powers, but… at what cost? My old friends… my old Brazilian host family… my _real_ family… I'd never get to see them again. My head and heart ached, and an incredible sadness billowed deep inside me. The wetness in my eyes extended to my cheeks, and I cried.

For a few minutes, the hospital room was silent, save for my shaky sobs. Police Chief Tsuragamae gritted his sharp, canine teeth, eyes closed. Like All Might, Dr. Yuni clenched trembling fists. They both clearly wanted to help me in some way. But what criminal could the dog-headed cop bring to justice for me when all of the members in the League of Witches were already behind bars? What could Dr. Yuni do to ease a pain that no medicine could cure?

It was, as usual, All Might who took the reigns and blasted away the melancholic atmosphere in the mostly empty hospital room. He shook his head and grinned, pearly teeth reflecting the light in the room and sparkling. "Worry not, Young Evan!" the Symbol of Peace told me, a pillar of inspirational cheerfulness holding us all aloft. "For an idea is here! In my head. Over the past week you've been unconscious, Chief Tsuragamae and I asked the media to spread your story to the masses; since we knew you would have no place to return to, we hoped someone might be willing to host you in their home. As far as I know, no one has yet responded to the number we've sent, but we haven't yet checked today..." He sweatdropped and turned to the dog-headed chief. "Er, Chief, actually… I appear to have forgotten the number. Do you still have it?"

Chief Tsuragamae snorted. "I saved it on my phone in case something like this happened. Allow me a second to call Foreign Relations and see if anyone has agreed to host you…" He dialed a number, held up the phone to his ear, and let it ring for a while. After a minute or two, the call went through to the main number, and he hummed and nodded, adding a few _Yes's_ and _no's_ and explaining what he was calling for. The police chief paused a moment, then nodded again, a smile spreading up his doggy face. I had a strange urge to pet his snout and rub between his ears, but I thought he might not like that very much. "Very good, I understand. Thank you." He hung up.

"What's the word?" I asked quietly, drying tears caking my cheeks.

The dog-headed man grinned and gave me a thumbs up. "We got someone who called in earlier this morning and said they'd be your new host family! They are the Midoriyas. The father is currently working overseas in America, although he too has condoned accepting you as a host son. The mother and son both live in this city."

All Might blinked. "Midoriya?" I thought I heard him mutter, "Huh… small world…"

As for me?

My jaw dropped.

No way. No freakin' way.

Other Me, you're a full-on jerkass for spiriting me away to the world of _My Hero Academia_ —permanently—and making me suffer all this body horror… but… _goddamn_ if you haven't repaid me for all the bad shit you've put me through. This doesn't _quite_ make up for it all, but… it comes close.

A smile turned up my lips.

I'd always wanted a little brother.


	2. Family, Goals, and Action

Chapter 2: Family, Goals, and Action

It took another two weeks of hospital rest for my body to recover from the stress of mutating and suddenly gaining a Quirk.

All Might and several other top pros, like Best Jeanist, Edgeshot, Ryukyu, and Gang Orca watched over me while I recovered and kept the "bad mass media" from my hotel room, as well as any other undesirable people. All Might also kept me up-to-date with the progress of granting me Japanese citizenship (having pulled some strings alongside Chief Tsuragamae to get me it faster than usual, due to my unique circumstances), and the whole host family process. Apparently, after hearing my story on the news and debating with herself for a while, and a little convincing from Izuku (who hadn't been able to simply look aside from someone in need), Midoriya Inko had decided to apply to be my host mother. I accepted, knowing how brilliant the Midoriyas were as people. The application process, and the Japanese government granting me citizenship, still would take a fair bit of time, however.

When I was at last discharged from the hospital, to be taken to a hotel room where I'd wait until everything finally went through, my first real experience of Quirky Japan was… the mass media. Lots and lots of that "bad mass media," to quote Present Mic.

Cameras flashed from a righteous sea of reporters and film crews crowding the parking lot as I left the hospital. All Might and Chief Tsuragamae led me to a rather conspicuous red-and-yellow Chevy parked in the center of the mass media hive. They filled just about every free spot of asphalt that they could, coming in all shapes, sizes, skin colors, and abnormal bodily features. I swore that I saw a velociraptor in the back, a woman with fish scales that sparkled in the early morning sun, and a guy with pencils for fingers. I'd become a bit of a local sensation.

We waded through them, shoving through and apologizing, but all the reporters in close enough proximity shoved their mics at me and demanded I answer their questions. I quickly started to feel dizzy from the sheer number of attempted interviews. All Might noticed this and pulled me in closer to him, grinning dazzlingly at the media crews.

"Please step aside, dear mass media, for Young Evan's ride is here!" he exclaimed loudly.

Chief Tsuragamae sweatdropped as a collective groan rose from all the reporters. "These people are rather like dogs at dinner time when an interesting scoop appears, woof," he observed.

Grumbling, the reporters gave in and parted like the Red Sea, allowing us to continue to the waiting Chevy. Since my only belongings were the clothes on my back—the same black-and-green school uniform I'd worn while being dimensionally kidnapped—my wallet, which actually contained quite a few U.S. dollars in it, and a phone which wasn't getting service, probably due to the whole "other world" thing, I had very little to pack into the car. This made moving me into my hotel room in Musutafu easier, too.

It wasn't anything amazing, my hotel room. It was rather small, had a single bed, a desk, a fridge, an attached bathroom, a microwave, and some cabinets. That was it. Still, though, after spending weeks cooped up on my stiff hospital bed, it felt wonderful to be here instead. I grinned as I took it all in, forcing away the omnipresent sadness and homesickness I felt for my old life.

All Might gave me a great big thumbs-up and Chief Tsuragamae bowed to me as I dropped my backpack next to my hotel room's door.

"I'm afraid it's rather small," the good police chief said with a small frown. "I hope you will be comfortable here for the next week or so regardless, woof."

"It's okay," I replied, collapsing on the bed, which was... ridiculously soft and fluffy, actually. If I hadn't spent the majority of the previous two weeks sleeping for faster recovery, I might've gone ahead and taken a nap right then and there. "Trust me, I really appreciate this."

"Well, then, if you're all settled in, I'm afraid my hero duty calls me!" All Might said, giving me a sharp salute and heading for the door. "There are people out there who need saving."

"The Midoriyas called earlier and told us they'd be here very soon to meet you at last," Chief Tsuragamae told me. "I'm glad that you are alright, young man. I must leave and return to the police station." He turned to follow All Might out of my hotel room, and a random thought crossed my mind—this city's jail really _was_ the 'pound'... the dog pound, that is.

Heh heh. Puns.

As All Might and Chief Tsuragamae turned to start walking down the hall, I hesitated. I knew I'd likely see at least All Might again very soon (he'd still be keeping me up-to-date with all of the governmental stuff), but I felt rather sad to see them go without at least saying something. After a brief moment, I got to my feet and bowed my head respectfully.

"All Might, Chief Tsuragamae," I said quietly. They paused and looked back at me curiously. "Thank you both. For everything. You've already done so much for me without needing to, and I just… I really, really appreciate it. I wish I could repay you in some way…"

Chief Tsuragamae smiled. "There is no need for that. Helping civilians is my job, after all."

All Might nodded. "And even if it weren't, you deserve a happy life, young Evan!" he exclaimed. "Everyone deserves one—and that includes people from other worlds. That is all. The only thing I want from you now is for you to do whatever makes you happy."

Charisma radiating from his gleaming grin, he laughed his booming, gallant laugh and started off down the hall, Chief Tsuragamae at his tail. I stood silently before the gaping hotel room door, considering his words. What makes me happy? I'd always wanted to be an author… it was a lifelong dream of mine, but I mean, that wouldn't exactly be a very reliable job at first. Who knew how long it would take before my stories got a big break? I needed a good job, I knew that, but back home, everything just kinda felt a little boring. Here, though... in this world…

I sat back down on my bed and mulled over this for a couple minutes. Could even I…?

Footsteps in the hall outside drew me out of my thoughts. I glanced curiously through my still-open door, watching for the footsteps' owners. After a brief moment, two people came into view and paused at my door, looking inside. One of them was a rather rotund and short lady, with a few worry wrinkles in her cheeks. She was dressed casually, with a green and blue color scheme that went well with her flowing green hair and emerald eyes. A young boy about my new age stood next to her, his own green hair an untameable rat's nest. He had big, innocent eyes, and looked both extremely excited and extremely nervous at the same time.

There was no mistaking them: Midoriya Inko and Midoriya Izuku, in flesh and blood.

"Hello," Inko said kindly. "You're Gamble Evan, right? I recognize you from the TV. My name is Midoriya Inko, and this is my son, Midoriya Izuku. We're your new host family."

"S-Sorry for the intrusion," Izuku mumbled, barely meeting my gaze as he and his mom stepped in my hotel room. His eyes kept flicking up to mine, then to the wall behind me, and back and forth. He twiddled his fingers and moved stiffly. The poor guy was so nervous I could practically taste it in the air.

"Not at all, please come in!" I said, grinning widely. "I've been excited to meet you guys." I really was, too, even with the slight depression I'd had off and on for the past two weeks. And not just because Izuku was the protagonist of one of my favorite mangas (and my all-time favorite anime). These were the people who were willing to take in a complete stranger with nothing but the good word of a pro hero and the police chief… the definition of Good Samaritans. To finally meet the family I'd be spending the rest of my foreseeable future with was an exciting prospect.

Izuku still seemed really nervous though. I frowned slightly at that. It wasn't healthy for someone to be that socially akward. Just how bad had his bullying really been, anyway?

Thinking quickly, I added, "You guys are my heroes for agreeing to do this for me."

Shock electrified Izuku's face. Then disbelief passed through, followed by impossible amounts of gratitude. And that was when the waterworks started. I sweatdropped as two massive fountains of salty tears spilled from the future Number One Hero's eyes. Was Izuku really born Quirkless? Because I think I discovered his Quirk: Unending Tears, the ability to wash away all opposition while sobbing uncontrollably!

Goddammit, though, this little guy was just too damn adorable. I think I just developed an older brother complex, and they weren't even legally my host family yet.

Inko giggled lightly at her son's antics. "Sorry about Izuku," she apologized. Her smile hugged her face warmly. She smelled of fresh-baked cookies, no doubt made for Izuku sometime recently. She ruffled the green mop on Izuku's head that he called hair.. "He gets very emotional when he's thankful for something. I'm afraid he gets it from me and my worrying…"

Izuku pouted slightly and wiped away his tears. " _Mom_ …" he groaned. She just chuckled, and he sighed before turning to me and—holy shit, those eyes were brighter than All Might's teeth. How was that even possible? "Is it true that you developed a Quirk even though you weren't born with one, because of the One-Way Dimensional Portal Quirk?" he blurted, and taken aback, I nodded. His eyes opened wide. "Whoaaaaa… every other person affected by it had already died by the time police arrived on the scene…"

A bolt of terror suddenly jolted me upright, and I broke out into a cold sweat. "I-Is that so…?" I gulped. Man, I really _had_ come ridiculously close to death back there on that altar, hadn't I?

His mom sighed. "Izuku's also a huge fan of Quirks," she explained in an amused but tired tone that told me she'd explained this to many weirded-out strangers.

I shook my head and gave a thumbs up. "I don't mind," I said brightly. I turned to my host brother and nodded. "Yes, Izuku, I did in fact develop one. It's apparently the power to expel smoke from my body, but in return my body… loses matter or something weird like that. I don't know exactly how it works, though. I don't even know how to begin to use it."

I'd tried using it several times in my old hospital room, but failed at each attempt. I didn't see even a single wisp of smoke when I did. Just what I was doing wrong, I had no clue, but I was sure I would get it with time.

My adoptive brother hummed excitedly. "Well then, we should try to train it!" he said. "I'll be a little busy trying to study and train for the Entrance Exam to U.A. Academy—All Might's old hero school—but when we've got free time, let's try to figure out how to get you to start using your Quirk!"

Training with Izuku on my Smoke Quirk? That sounded _fun_. I jumped up to a full stand and offered him my hand. "Then let's shake on that," I said, and my eagerness to start working with my new superpower filled the sentence.

Tentatively, his arm trembling, Izuku reached out and grasped my hand. "I'll do my best to help you out however I can," Izuku promised semi-confidently.

"Great; sounds like a plan, then, Izuku…" My voice trailed off as I thought of something. Since we were going to be brothers, in a sense, wouldn't it make sense for us to have nicknames for each other? And Lord knows the poor greeny needed a better nickname than _Deku_. At least until Ochako ends up changing its meaning for him. I had no clue what to call him, though; how the hell did Japanese nicknames work? As I mused this, a memory of something another SI in a fanfiction I'd read recently had called Izuku came to mind, and I shook my head. "No, wait… Izukkun! Is it alright if I call you that?"

He blinked, then slowly nodded, his ears turning a tad pink. "It's… It's not bad," he admitted.

"Awesome!" I put my hands on my hips and nodded sagely. "Then from now on, you're Izukkun!"

Inko chuckled, one hand covering her mouth and the other on her son's shoulder. "Is that so?" she asked, a playful twinkle in her eye. Then she grew a bit sad and glanced slightly down. "I'm sorry that you have to stay here all alone, Evan," she said. "I wish you could come live with us for real, but the bureau handling our host family application says you can't until all the paperwork is finished. Apparently it's only going to take one more week to fully complete, though."

"One more week, huh?" I repeated to solidify the date in my mind. I had ADD, so I often had to repeat things such as dates to make sure I remembered them.

"I'll come every day to bring you some nice home-cooked meals," my host mother promised, "and I'll bring Izuku over when I can. I understand your phone from your world doesn't work here?" I nodded, and she handed me a brand new iPhone—I was used to Android, but Apple would have to do, at least until it inevitably breaks. "Here, you can use this one. I've already added both my and Izuku's numbers as contacts. Do you understand how to use it, or…?"

It was a little bit futuristic, but I figured that I'd be fine once I started messing around with it. I shrugged. "I'll get a handle on it. Thanks, er… what do you want me to call you?"

"Just Inko is fine," she said, and I rubbed the back of my head, chuckling awkwardly. That'd been embarrassing if I had went and called her _mom_ like an idiot.

"Thanks, Inko."

She shook her head and said, "It's nothing, Evan. You're just about as close to a Midoriya as you can be, now, so I'll love you as much as I love Izuku…" A devious smile turned the corners of her lips up, and she ruffled Izukkun's messy hair again. "Or, Izukkun, I should say."

" _Mom!_ " Izukkun protested, but I could tell he didn't mind. I smirked; his half-hearted protest was cute as all hell. How were the girls not constantly fawning all over this little cinnamon roll? Well, actually, the answer to that was blaringly obvious: Bakugou Katsuki's reign of junior high school terror.

"Now, then, since we all have a bit of free time," she said, pulling up a chair from the desk and sitting down in it while offering Izukkun a chair of his own, "let's get to know each other more."

We spent the next hour or so simply talking. Izukkun and his mother were very interested in hearing about what a world with no Quirks was like, especially Izuku (for reasons that should be obvious). Similarly, I was very interested to hear what a Quirky world was like. I had, of course, gotten a general idea from the anime and manga, and from some things that All Might and the other pros who'd guarded me had said, but there was still tons of new things I learned. Izukkun ended up launching into a spiel about how hero society works and what kinds of protective laws were put in place to keep heroes from abusing their power. He also listed the top 10 pros and their various Quirks; the more he talked about them, the more I considered the thought All Might's last words had put in my mind.

Could even I, with my untrained body and the Smoke Quirk I hadn't even figured out how to activate yet, be a hero?

Helping people is something I had always been very passionate about. I'd always wanted to make people happy and help their lives be a little better. Maybe that was part of the reason I ended up writing a lot; to allow people to get away from the stress of their daily lives by reading neat little stories. I'd been granted a good life, quiet and peaceful (well, until recently, anyway), and wanted people to be able to feel a little of that from my stories. But now… now, I didn't have to limit my desire to make the world a better place just to my writing.

I shifted on my bed.

It would take a lot of work. I definitely was nowhere close to being in fighting form. It would probably cause me a lot of pain, too, which I was even less of a fan of than before I came here, thanks to that whole portal misadventure.

But I could _save_ people, and if I passed up an opportunity like this…

I took a deep breath.

"This might… this might sound impertinent of me," I said shakily, looking Izukkun an Inko in the eyes. They blinked, and I allowed myself a moment to build my confidence. "But, I want to be a pro hero."

Inko paused, then smiled softly and shook her head, amused. "You're just like Izukkun, then, aren't you? You two… I'll support you both as much as I can." She suddenly frowned sternly. "And I won't stop worrying one bit, so don't go doing anything crazy to get yourselves hurt!"

Izukkun laughed a little at that; he probably knew better than anyone how much his mom would really worry if we went and got ourselves seriously injured. He looked at me and said, "H-Hey, uh, if you're going to be a pro, too, you should enter U.A. with me! It's the most prestigious hero school in the country. All the strongest heroes come from there. The Entrance Exam is in about eight months now, so you still have a lot of time to train and study!"

Man, I've said it before, and I'll say it again: the Midoriyas were amazing people. I wished my family back in my world could meet them. My older sister would think Izukkun was just the cutest. And he really was too damn adorable with those bright, wide emerald orbs. If he were to ever learn the puppy-dog eyes, I think the world might actually agree to global peace. All he'd have to do would be ask them and even North Korea would put away their nukes.

I offered him a bro fist. "Well, then, man, we're gonna ace that exam together!" I declared, and Izukkun shakily returned the fist bump.

Inko's face shone as she watched us. Green locks of hair fell over her forehead as she said happily, "Well, then before you two heroes enter high school, we need to go shopping. Evan, you still need a full wardrobe so that the uniform you're wearing isn't your only outfit. And Izukkun, you still need some new clothes, too; you're growing out of several of your old shirts."

Usually, I hated shopping, but if it meant spending more time with the Midoriyas and less time alone with nothing but my homesickness to keep me company, I was all for it.

Going to the mall was a bit of a… bizarre experience. I couldn't help staring at all of the people with strange bodies. The manga and anime had made it all seem really cool and natural, and… while it _was_ kinda cool, there was a weirdness factor that I just couldn't shove down. I tried being as open as possible to all this newness, but it would probably be a long time before I adjusted. Other than that, a fair bit of our time ended up being dedicated to dodging reporters. Somehow, they'd found out that I was there in the mall, and barely fifteen minutes after our arrival, they'd all flocked there like flies to a light source.

It was while we skirted around another pod of reporters that I happened to bump into him.

The poor kid had ducked his head low, so at first, I didn't notice him. He was just another person with spiky, purple hair, walking stiffly with his shoulders hunched up. Then we collided, his head knocking into my shoulder. I accidentally stumbled into Izukkun and turned to reprimand the guy, but stopped short when I noticed his face, and those practically dead eyes. He wore a simple indigo blazer with a white shirt underneath. A blue tie matching the color of the shirt, with thin, grey stripes running diagonally across it, hung from his neck. His pants were grey as well. Something about that design felt distantly familiar.

"Sorry," the guy who'd bumped into me said woodenly, continuing past with barely a glance up at me.

I said, "Oh, no, it's not a problem," and thought briefly that his voice sounded familiar, too. Did I know anyone from the series with purple hair?

It clicked. Shinsou. Hitoshi Shinsou, the man who had the Brainwash Quirk.

I frowned. The poor guy had looked way too much like a zombie. Swallowing, I opened my mouth to… I didn't know what I was going to say, actually, but it didn't even matter. The crowd swallowed up the purple-haired kid, and just like that he was gone from my sight.

I swallowed dry air, my heart aching for the poor guy. It must be terrible for him to want only to be a hero, but have everyone label him as a potential villain just because of their stupid preconceptions about his Quirk. That irked me; how people here were so willing to stick labels on others or assume things about them just because of how they were born. I decided then that would be my ultimate goal as a hero—to change the way that the Quirky Japanese society viewed people who were Quirkless or who had "villain Quirks;" to make it a game where everyone could play however they wanted without having to be burdened down by others' beliefs about them.

If that's ever going to change, then the world needs someone to take a stand and get the ball rolling.

~o~

The eight months until the U.A. Entrance Exam passed by in a blur. The government finally got my host family forms done; I got fingerprints taken by the police for my records, and then I entered the Midoriya family household.

Life at the Midoriyas' was a happy one. As prone to mass worrying as she was, Inko let Izukkun and I do pretty much whatever we wanted. Izukkun wasn't around a whole lot, though. That was probably because of his training at the beach, which he had yet to tell me about. Not that I minded, since I was keeping secrets of my own. In any case, when he arrived home, he was always exhausted and caked in sweat. The few days we had where he was home for the whole evening, he'd either help me try to learn to use my Quirk or take me exploring around Musutafu. Sometimes these two points combined into one.

One such occasion had us training in a park near the Midoriyas' apartment complex that was mostly empty, except for a handful of other people. It was the fifth or sixth time we'd gone out together to practice my Quirk… maybe the seventh. I'd lost track.

It was also the first time that yielded any results.

Izuku tapped his chin rapidly and paced around me as I stood in the grass. He muttered about something I couldn't quite hear, and hadn't stopped doing so for the past ten minutes. At last, he came to a stop directly in front of me and put his hands in his jeans' pockets.

"Alright," he decided. "Maybe we've been looking at this as if it's more complex than it actually is. Maybe just envision your body as smoke, and imagine it leaving you and going into the air?"

"I doubt it's that easy," I deadpanned.

Izukkun raised his eyebrow. "We've tried everything else. It's at least worth a shot."

"...You got me there," I admitted reluctantly. My host brother was a smart little bugger; maybe this would work. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. I tried to picture my body, then decided perhaps my whole body would be a little bit too much. I settled for my pointer finger on my right hand to keep things simple. I imagined it filling with smoke, and then the smoke leaving its tip. Strangely, my hand felt lighter than usual, just a little. Izukkun gasped sharply, and I opened my eyes.

Smoke curled in the air between us, the slight breeze pushing it to the left. I looked down at my hand, curious as to why it felt lighter, and was shocked to see that my finger was now transparent. It was still there; I could still move it and it was still a part of me. But I could see through it—thankfully not also seeing all the blood and muscle and bone underneath the skin—and when I clenched my fist, my thumb simply passed right through that finger as if it couldn't be touched. The sheer abruptness of it caused us to both just gape for several long moments before finally reacting.

Izukkun's eyes grew to the size of dinner plates and sparkled with pure excitement. "Whoaaaaa! You did it! Evan, you did it! Look at that smoke!"

"I did it," I breathed, my skin crawling. I couldn't believe it, but… "I-I did it! Ha, awesome!"

Izukkun and I high-fived, giddy with the feeling of having conquered whatever was keeping me from using my Quirk, and I shivered a little from the uncanniness of my pointer finger passing clear through Izuku's.

Okay, that was weird. It also brought another concern to mind, namely… "How do I turn my finger back to normal?" I whimpered to Izukkun, who suddenly froze and stared at my transparent appendage.

"...Oh. Uh…"

"Izukkun," I whined, grabbing his collar desperately, "you _do_ have an idea, don't you?"

My host brother's previously excited, now very nervous smile twitched. "...Um…"

But even as Izukkun hesitated, the smoke in the air suddenly started moving back down to my finger. The unexpected movement caught both of our attentions, and we stared at it as it drifted lazily into the tip of my transparent finger. Weight returned to it, and it somehow returned to normal.

We both blinked.

"Did you somehow control it to do that, Evan?" Izukkun asked, thinking quickly.

I shook my head. "Er, no, I was a bit too worried about having a ghostly finger to try that."

The cute little nerd gazed with vast interest at the finger that had previously been gone. "Hm… looks like it has a time limit then. I'd say that was around… a minute and a half? Maybe? I'm not sure. What was that anyway? That witch told you that your Quirk's ability causes your body parts to _lose matter_ , but what does that mean, exactly? You were moving your finger just fine even though it was transparent and other physical objects were passing through it… maybe you become ghostlike when you use your Quirk? That could be both a positive and a negative… you won't be able to attack with whatever part of your body the smoke comes from, but you also won't be able to be hit by Villains' attacks. And it seems like your finger was still affected by gravity even when it was transparent, so you probably shouldn't ever expel smoke from your whole body, because then you might just end up sinking straight through the ground and—"

My eye twitched even as an amused grin crossed my face. "Izukkun."

"—then you wouldn't be able to come up, because you'd be stuck. But what if you encountered a situation where you _had_ to go full smoke to be able to escape? I wonder if—"

" _Izukkun_."

"—you could control the smoke at will, because that could open up a lot of—"

"Izukkun!" I shouted in my host brother's ear, and he yelped and backed up rapidly. He acted entirely jumpy, like a little kid whose friends had come up behind them and grabbed their shoulders. I couldn't help but chuckle at the sight. "You were doing that thing where you mutter a lot again."

He rubbed the back of his head, his ears turning pink. "O-Oh… sorry.. I kind of got carried away when I saw your Quirk in action…"

I sniggered and looped my arm over his shoulders. "Aw, bro, it's okay. I'm excited about this, too, after all. How 'bout we try this again, see exactly what I can do with this smoke?"

Very soon after that happy day, we got me enrolled in Izuku's middle school, which was called Orudera Middle School. I even was placed in his class. Orudera was this big white building separated from the rest of the city of Musutafu by a white wall outlined with bricks. In terms of school building, it was just kind of average and didn't really stand out. As for my first day there, well… it didn't exactly go as peacefully as I would've liked.

Introductions went smoothly. I got the classic desk in the back corner of the class, next to the window—the desk that 100% of Slice-of-Life anime protagonists recommend. Several people asked me for my autograph, which I reluctantly handed out just to get it over with. But all in all, everything at least started out fine. It was towards the end of the last class of the day, when the teacher happened to ask me what I wanted to do for a living, that the interesting stuff happened.

I closed a notebook which I'd been writing down my memories of the original _My Hero Academia_ series in and stood up. "A pro hero," I answered immediately, still blown away by the prospect that this occupation was even available for me, "and an author of my own book series."

Sitting in the row to Izukkun's left, Bakugou Katsuki snorted and sneered at me. His spiky hair, dusty blond and greasy, helped shape the sharp contours of his face into an image of overbearing strength and confidence. "Figures that any host brother of Deku's would be just as much of a damn dreaming nerd as him," Bakugou said loudly. He gave me a very unimpressed once-over. "You think that you can be a pro with a pathetic body and a Quirk like that? You look so weak that you could lose a fight with a fucking leaf. And what the hell can smoke do against a Villain?"

I frowned deeply. In my other world, I might've just ignored him and let the words brush by me, but… then I wouldn't be doing what I wanted the rest of the world to do. So I didn't back down; instead, I returned his Bakugou's gaze evenly. "Go ahead. Think what you want of me. I don't care one iota if you think I can't make it as a hero, because I'm not doing this for you. I'm doing this because if I don't at least try my hardest to pass the U.A. Entrance Exam, then I'll regret it for the rest of my life."

The class watched our exchange nervously, all of them suddenly quiet. I prepared to sit down, having said all I needed to, but Bakugou's red eyes flashed with sudden rage and he stood up with a glare.

"Alright, you listen up, you damn bastard," he snarled. "I'm the only one from Orudera who's going to enter U.A. this year, got it? No one else from here can. Nobody else is going to pass, not you with your useless Quirk or that Quirkless shit Deku."

Izuku flinched but cast his eyes down at his desk. Worried muttering rose up from our classmates.

"Oh, man, now he's gone and pissed off Bakugou…"

"He's dead meat if he doesn't stop now…"

The teacher frowned, but did nothing.

As clearly irked as the bully was, however, I couldn't let that last bit slide. I couldn't just sit down and stop now, not when that jerk was picking on Izukkun.

I folded my arms and returned his glare full force. "No, you listen to _me_ ," I hissed. "Go stuff that ego up your ass and don't you dare. Say that Izukkun. Can't. Be. A hero. He may be Quirkless, but he's got a heart golder than Fort Knox, and a stronger drive than anyone I've ever seen. And here's another newsflash for you: _pro hero_ doesn't mean someone with superpowers using them to fight crime. _Pro hero_ means someone who saves lives and protects people from Villains for a living. That means that anyone can be a pro, even if they're Quirkless, so long as they get their license, and I do believe that U.A. has abolished the rule of only people with Quirks being allowed in the hero course. So Izuku—that's his name, by the way, and not _Deku_ — _can_ be a hero."

Izukkun's eyes widened and he waved his arms around wildly. "Evan, y-you don't have to d-d-do all that! Really, it's… it's okay! I d-don't want him to be m-m-mad!"

"Fucking nerds!" Bakugou raged. His palms smoked a little, but still the teacher didn't move an inch or say a peep.

I ignored the furious bully and looked at my host brother with a small smile. "Izukkun," I said kindly, "tell them. Tell all these guys what you're going to do and show them your conviction. If you continue to let them just tell you that you can't follow your dreams, then they're not gonna ever stop saying it. And it's not fair that you have to deal with that. You shouldn't have to."

A stricken, worried frown crossed his face and tears built up in his eyes as he glanced between me and Bakugou, who ground his teeth in his anger. I could almost hear my host brother wondering it it was really alright for him to do this. I doubted he would have ever had the confidence to stand up for himself before meeting All Might, but now was a different story. Slowly, with shaking feet, Izuku started to stand up, but just then the teacher decided to _finally_ cut in.

"Alright, everyone, let's all settle down," the teacher said, raising his hands for peace. "Let's not do anything to disrupt the class."

...What.

 _What?_

"Disrupt the class!?" I exploded poisonously, whirling on the teacher and glaring harder than even Bakugou. "Ohoho, no you fucking _don't_! Don't even _try_ to say that when Izukkun starts to stand up for himself, because you didn't say a single _word_ when Bakugou was picking on him and me! What kind of teacher are you!? You're supposed to help anyone getting bullied, no matter how different they are from the rest of your class, but the only time you intervene is when the victim stands up for himself?" Seething, I turned to Izukkun and gave him a nod. "Don't listen to these guys, just stand up and speak—it's your right!"

A stunned silence fell over our classmates and the teacher; their jaws touched the floor. Clearly, no one had ever gone this far to defend Izukkun's dream before. Hell, that was considering anyone had ever done so at all, which I severely doubted.

Izukkun hesitated. His body trembled, and tiny tears began to build up in the corners of his emerald orbs. "I…" He trailed off, then wiped his eyes. His body stopped shaking, and a nervous but true smile spread across his face. "I'm going to pass the U.A. Entrance Exam, graduate from U.A., and become the next Number One Hero!" he declared, and the words held a certain weight to them which just couldn't be ignored. A happy grin lit up my face—that had taken serious guts to overcome his fears and do that. This kid was _brave_.

"DEKU!" Bakugou shouted, and his hands burst with several explosions as he stomped toward the now-terrified kid. But at long last, our teacher finally did something about it.

"Bakugou Katsuki, Gamble Evan, and Midoriya Izuku, all of you calm down and _sit_!" he barked. Bakugou clearly didn't like it, but he returned to his seat, steaming. Izukkun and I followed suit. The teacher took a deep breath. "After class ends, you three are coming to the principal's office with me."

Izukkun's stammering thanks and the tearful, extremely grateful hug from Inko when she arrived at the principal office after being informed of what had happened made the week-long detention all three of us got 100% worth it. Inko gave the best hugs.

That whole ordeal spurred me on to get stronger even more. As much as I hated his bullying, Bakugou was right; I was weak as fuck. I needed to get stronger physically, not just with my Quirk. It'd help me in a fight, and make sure I wasn't immediately expelled after Eraserhead's little test, too. Therefore I did a bit of research into the pro heroes best at martial arts, and who actually trained students even when said students weren't interns, before eventually coming to a very easy decision. And the pro I chose was… _drum roll_ _please_ …

Gunhead!

What? You didn't think I'd go with All Might, did you? No way, man, that was _too much_ pain. I wasn't sadistic. Not this version of me, anyway; I still wasn't sure about Other Me™. Anyway, I'd remembered that Gunhead was both a good martial arts teacher and a good person from the anime, so it was an easy choice. Inko was more than happy to pay for my lessons, too, especially after the incident with Bakugou. And so I found myself with Gunhead as my martial arts teacher.

The pro worked out a solid plan for my training during the first day of my lessons.

"You'll come here every day after school," he told me kindly. His light grey, almost minty hair stuck out of the back of his white ski mask wildly, and his two signature steel bracers that were clasped just below his wrists looked heavy as all hell. Dark grey pads covered his neck and draped over his shoulders, leaving his well-toned body exposed due to his costume lacking a shirt. He wore blue fingerless gloves, brown pants, and black boots. "Every Saturday, too, but not until noon—you're a growing boy and need your beauty sleep! Every lesson for the first two months of your training will be two hours long, and the rest of them will be three hours. Normally, we'd go longer, but you're going to be taking the U.A. Entrance Exam, so I'd be beside myself if I kept you from your studies!"

I stared at him, blinking rapidly. _Ochako was right_ , I thought, my eyebrow raising. _This guy_ does _talk in a kind of cute way._ Shaking myself out of my amused thoughts, I bowed and said, "Yes, sensei! I understand!"

The pro hero cupped his hands over his mouth. "You called me sensei," he gasped, hopping from foot to foot. "How polite!"

 _Even his mannerisms are all cutesy_ , I observed with a sweatdrop.

Gunhead froze suddenly, then pirouetted and bowed. "I will do my best to get you into fighting shape with the seven months we have, so please work to your full ability! Here's the lesson plan: For months one and two, we will practice karate on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, and work on your flexibility and balance on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays. Is that okay with you?"

I nodded. "Yes, sensei! That sounds good to me!"

"Then for months three and four, karate will be replaced with jujitsu. Balance-slash-flexibility will be replaced with weightlifting, and other exercises to increase your muscle mass and strength. For month five, we will alternate between karate and jujitsu every other week, but keep the weight lifting. Finally, for the last two months, we will have you fight my sidekicks and I nonstop throughout each lesson. With this plan…" He tilted his head, and I could feel him positively _beaming_ even through his ski mask. "You should grow strong enough to be on equal footing with the other students taking the exam!"

My schedule filled up pretty quickly after that, and time flew by rapidly. In school, I paid attention to as much as I could while ignoring Bakugou; he seemed to be ignoring Izukkun for the most part, so I wasn't going to pick a fight where there didn't need to be one. After school, I trained my ass off in Gunhead's dojo, and after martial arts lessons were over, I'd pour over all of my school books for hours or practice my Smoke Quirk with Izukkun.

I also thought about my hero costume design, considering the best way to make up for my weakness in possibly not being able to fight back against a Villain. I ended up wasting several sheets of paper, throwing out scrapped ideas.

At first, transitioning from my old sedentary life to this new, busy one was difficult, but the hard work paid off. My grades were improving; I started getting high A's even though I'd been a low B student in my home world (no thanks to you, homework. Fuck you); although it may've also helped that since it was an exam for _middle school_ , I didn't have to worry about high-level chemistry, or physics, or calculus. My punches and kicks grew less sloppy, and I found myself being able to exercise harder and harder without sweating. I was able to recite several of the hero laws by heart. Izukkun and I discovered that not only could I control my smoke with slowly increasing accuracy, I could also absorb smoke that came from other sources and gain back matter.

Then, in the blink of an eye, I woke up, looked at the screen of my iPhone (which had by some impossible stroke of luck managed to survive all this time), and realized that it was the day of the Entrance Exam.

A look in the mirror in my bedroom showed just how much I'd changed since my first two weeks in this world. My blue hair, previously parted to the side, had now been re-stylized to a slightly scruffy and curly look. I'd been a weak, scrawny kid with little to talk about in the way of muscle before training. Now, though, I'd grown several inches taller than my first time being sixteen—my birthday had come and gone—and was on the way to being ripped. Hell, I had a six-pack for the first time, like, _ever_.

Even so, a sudden burst of nervousness erupted in me like a geyser. This Exam… it'd be the hardest, most dangerous exam I'd ever taken. There was a high possibility that I'd get seriously injured trying to pass it. Dare I even try?

I remembered Shinsou's dead eyes as he'd walked by me in the mall, the day I'd met the Midoriyas. I remembered Izukkun quietly accepting Bakugou's insult and not saying anything until I stood up for him. My momentary fears receded; they didn't go away altogether, but they were definitely overpowered by my desire to stop anyone else from being in their positions. I'd spent my old life being inactive; never again.

I could _do_ this. I could become a hero.

All I had to do was try.


	3. From Zero to Hero

Chapter 3: From Zero to Hero

What exactly was I feeling as I made my way to U.A. Academy's main building with my host brother, Midoriya Izuku, on the morning of the Entrance Exam? It was hard to tell; I was a melting pot of emotions. Just ten months ago, _My Hero Academia_ had been merely a story to me. Now I was about to try to enter U.A., my first step on the long road to becoming a pro hero. My gut definitely had _something_ curling inside it, but whether this was anticipation, nervousness, or just smoke from my Quirk, I had no idea. Hell, knowing Other Me, it could've been all three.

Inko dropped us off at the entrance to U.A. about a half-hour before the start of the Exam. She got out of the car and hugged us tightly, tears threatening to explode from her eyes. "I'm so proud of both of you," she hiccuped, squeezing me half to death after letting go of Izukkun. "You're both so brave. Do your best."

"Thanks, Mom," Izukkun murmured with a soft smile.

"We will," I said, trying to sound much more confident in myself than I felt. I wasn't sure whether it worked. When Inko let go of me, though, she seemed to have not noticed my trepidation, so, yay?

Inko wiped her wet eyes and brought out her phone. Izukkun and I paled. Oh, no. She wasn't wanting pictures, was she? If she was… we'd be stuck standing here way longer than was necessary. Inko had a bad habit of refusing to put down the camera until the picture was _just_ right.

"Now, pose together in front of the school, please! I want to remember this moment forever."

We both quietly groaned. Yep, she did indeed want a picture. Hopefully this wouldn't make us late...

Once we'd finally escaped her impromptu photoshoot, we used the guest passes we'd received in the mail to get through the huge U.A. Barrier. About two months ago, after we'd sent in our applications for U.A., they'd mailed both Izukkun and I envelopes containing directions on what to do upon arriving on the school grounds as well as the aforementioned guest passes. Anyway, from there, it was a simple matter of making our way up the red path to the school building, and then to the auditorium.

While Orudera Middle had been a rather average school, U.A. seemed to pride itself on creating good first expansive, the school grounds were beautiful. Sweeping forests behind a row of pedestals, on which sat large stone busts of the heads of old pros, hugged either side of the red brick path that rain straight up to the building itself. Alabaster, angular arch ways jutted over said path in equal spacing. The actual building was an impressive work of modern architecture that took my breath away. Three different sets of numbered double doors were located on a raised platform with a roof held up by Grecian pillars. The rest of the building was no joke either.

 _This place is so amazing!_ I mentally gasped, drinking it all in. My attention was entirely focused on all the sights. As I drew up closer and closer to the front door, my hazel eyes shone as brightly as Izukkun's whenever he talked about pros. ...I _may_ have picked up one or two tendencies from him after living in the same house as him for eight months. _I can't believe it… I'll be going to a high school_ this _beautiful for the next three years if I pass the Exam?_

I was so absorbed in my awe that I didn't realize Izukkun wasn't walking next to me anymore until I was already a good ways inside the school. After a thorough look around, I saw that he was nowhere nearby. The plot must've tripped him up outside. I groaned; I was already most of the way to the auditorium, according to the handy school map from the mailed envelope, so it really wasn't worth it to go back. I texted Izukkun a quick apology and went on to the auditorium for the exam orientation.

The auditorium was huge, dark, and cold. It was also crowded with over nine hundred people, and more steadily entered behind me; the sheer number of applicants blew my mind. The room consisted of many rows of chairs with desks in front of them, a wooden stage, and a roll-up sheet for a projector to shine on. I made my way down towards the lower rows of chairs, and scooched across several pairs of extended feet to my seat in the third row up. I'd actually applied earlier than Izukkun, so my examinee number was smaller than his and thus we wouldn't be sitting together. I pulled my phone from my pocket, booted up a mobile game called _All Might VS The World_ , and started to play until someone sitting beside me drew my attention away.

My hazel eyes widened. There to my immediate left was Shinsou, his eyes holding a fire they hadn't quite held before. That worked out remarkably well. I'd been wondering how I could help the poor guy. Now I had a chance to maybe get him into Class 1-A, where he deserved to be. A plan started to form in my head, but before I could get far, Shinsou spoke up.

"Do you want something?" the boy asked with a gruff frown. I sweatdropped and realized I'd been staring a little. Oops. Time to make up an excuse.

"Oh, no, sorry, I was just thinking that you look really cool!" I said quickly, waving my hands about in denial. Shinsou blinked. "Your hair style's awesome. Mine just kinda flops over when I do that, even with gel." It was true; whenever I tried to stylize my hair, it seemed all too eager to simply fall back to its normal look of being parted to the left. I think the universe was just screwing with me.

Thankfully, the purple-haired kid seemed to buy my excuse, because he nodded and faced forward again. "Oh," he said. "Thank you."

I saluted cheerfully. "It's nice to meet you!" I exclaimed. "My name's Evan Ga—Er, Gamble Evan." Even nine months spent in Japan didn't free me from accidental slip-ups in introducing myself, not after eighteen years spent doing it the western way. "You can call me Evan, though. It just feels weird being called _Gamble_ … Anyway, what's your name?"

"Shinsou Hitoshi," he replied sufficiently. My eye gave a slight twitch at that. This guy was the strong, silent type, wasn't he? Well, I wasn't going to give up on him just because he didn't want to speak a whole lot.

"Soooooo, Shinsou! What's your Quirk? Mine's smoke; not very impressive in a fight, sadly. It leaves me unable to interact physically with the world in places I use it, so it makes getting into a direct fight annoying."

He stared at me like I was an idiot. "You _do_ know we're most likely going to be going against each other in this Exam, right?" he pointed out. I didn't say anything and instead grinned innocently at him. Shinsou kept staring at me for a few more seconds, but sighed when he realized I wasn't going to let down on finding out his Quirk. "Brainwashing," he mumbled. He looked away with a deep frown. "I can activate it when people reply to me."

I mentally fist-pumped. Never underestimate the power of acting like a one-track minded simpleton! "Whoa, really? That's an awesome Quirk!" I laughed and added, "Villains won't be able to stand a chance against you! They'd have to be stupid not to let you in the Hero Course."

 _That_ got a reaction out of Shinsou. He stared at me again, purple eyes widening in confusion. "You're not…" He hesitated, then said, "You're not worried I'll use it on you?"

I rolled my eyes. "Of course not. You're here in this auditorium now, so clearly you want to be a hero, not some dumb Villain who goes around making everyone do whatever he wants. And we're not in the Exam yet, anyway, so there's no reason for you to use it. I just think your Quirk's really cool!"

And I did. I honestly meant it. Shinsou's Quirk was awesome and overpowered as _fuck_. He had total potential to be the Number One Hero some day; the only reason he hadn't made it into U.A.'s Class 1-A in canon at all was because of bad luck with the Entrance Exam.

"...Thanks," Shinsou murmured, the grateful word barely audible.

I grinned and shook my head. "It's nothing, man."

We were silent for the next minute or so as the last of the applicants trickled into the auditorium and took their seats. When everyone was there, the lights above the stage suddenly lit up one by one. A projector shone on a blue image with the red U.A. logo on the roll-up sheet. Present Mic—a tall, lanky blond wearing headphones, a black leather jacket like the kind a rocker would have, and dark jeans—came out from behind the curtain, posed wildly and shouted, "For all of you new listeners, welcome to my show today!" He threw his hands out wide. "Everybody say _HEEEEEY_!"

Present Mic cupped his hand over his ear and leaned towards the audience. Silence reigned.

I nudged Shinsou. "Are those crickets?" I quipped. He rolled his eyes. I wasn't sure whether it was an annoyed eye-roll or an amused one; let's go with the latter.

"What a refined response," Present Mic grumbled at last when it became clear that no one was going to repeat after him. He shook it off and grinned, wagging his finger at us. "Then I'll quickly present to you the full rundown on the practical exam!" He struck a pose again. "ARE YOU READY!? _YEAAAAH!_ "

He waited. Silence reigned.

I nudged Shinsou. "Yep, definitely crickets," I said, and this time he snorted.

Present Mic sighed, put off by the lack of response from his audience, while I snickered at the poor pro's reaction. He shook it off again, though, and said, "As it says in the application requirements, you listeners will be conducting ten-minute mock urban battles after this!" The screen transformed into a general overview of the map, showing us the building where we were and the battle centers, listed A-G, where the Exam would be held in. "After the presentation, you'll head to the specified battle center, _OKAY_?"

He waited. Silence reigned. We all looked down at the desks in front of us, where a small rectangle of paper lay, picked it up, and read the information on it. I would be in battle center F.

The screen started to change again, the map wiping away and being replaced by a cartoon drawing of a city block. Outlines of pixelated creatures appeared around the drawing, labeled 1P, 2P, and 3P.

"Three different types of faux villains are stationed in each battle center," Present Mic explained loudly. "You earn points for each of them based on difficulty." The screen changed again, this time to something that looked like a video game recording of Present Mic walking through city streets and bouncing on green robots' heads like Mario. "Your goal, dear listeners, is to use your Quirks to earn points by immobilizing the faux villains." He pointed at us and smirked. "Of course, attacking other examinees and other unheroic actions are prohibited."

Shinsou stiffened and the fire in his eyes suddenly went out like a light, leaving only a kind of resigned horror like he'd already expected something like this but had been clinging to hope anyway. I clenched my fist; it made me angry how unfair this test was. Shinsou obviously realized just how skewed against him it was from how pale his face became.

A tall boy in a khaki suit and a blue tie stood up, raising his hand. "Can I ask a question?" the square-faced boy asked, his arm quivering stiffly in the air. I shook my head in amusement. Good old Iida, always eager to make sure he understood the rules.

"Okay!" Present Mic decided, pointing at him. A spotlight descended on Iida, illuminating him.

Iida held up the paper that had been laying for us on the desks in front of our seats. "On the print-out, there are four types of villains, however, only three were shown on the screen. If the printout made an error, then U.A., the most prominent school in Japan, should be ashamed of that foolish mistake! We examinees are here in this place because we wish to be molded into exemplary heroes!" He turned behind him and pointed rapidly at someone who I could just barely see from the glow of his spotlight was my host brother. "In addition, you over there, with the curly hair—you've been muttering this whole time. It's distracting! If you're here on a pleasure trip, then you should leave immediately!"

I facepalmed. Oh, Izuku, you adorably nerdy little guy. You never change, do you?

"Okay, okay, Examinee Number 7111," Present Mic soothed. He gave a thumbs up and grinned. "Thanks for the great message!" A fourth pixelated villain labeled '0P' popped up on the screen. "The fourth type of villain is worth zero points. That guy's an obstacle, so to speak. There's one in every battle center; an obstacle that will go _crazy_ in narrow spaces!"

Iida bowed low respectfully. "I see! Thank you! Please excuse my interruption!" He then sat down, and the spotlight around him shut off.

Meanwhile, I hummed. "This whole thing is rather similar to a video game, eh?" I said to Shinsou, who nodded blankly. He stared off into space, and I frowned. He looked dead again; like he was prone to just keel over. How could I help him now? A thought came to mind, and I decided to go for it. "But you know, there's something strange about this whole thing. The only focus seems to be on defeating villains… not rescuing people. Why would the most prestigious hero's school not care about the most important part of being a hero in the Entrance Exam?"

Shinsou's head tilted to me and he said woodenly, "Because they only care about heroes who can fight."

I shook my head. "No, no, that still doesn't make sense. I've heard that Eraserhead graduated from this school, and that the Exam is usually very similar each year… but his Quirk is to erase others' Quirks. Not exactly helpful against robots."

Shinsou blinked, and a small spark of hope shone in his eyes. "Wait… you think that they might be—?"

"That's all from me!" Present Mic declared, effectively cutting off Shinsou. "Finally, I'll give all you listeners a present—our school motto! The hero Napoleon Bonaparte once said, _A true hero is someone who overcomes life's misfortunes!_ " He smirked and pretended to shoot finger guns high into the air. "Go beyond. _PLUS ULTRA!_ "

Shinsou stared at Present Mic. "Overcomes life's misfortunes…" he whispered, blinking rapidly.

"Why would they include that…?"

Present Mic bowed. "Now, everyone, good luck suffering!" And with that rather morbid statement, he bounded off behind the curtain. The lights on the stage shut off alongside the screen.

Excited murmuring rose up among the examinees. I got up and cracked my back.

"Well, then, Shinsou, looks like it's time to shine!" I said, feeling a rush of both excitement and nerves sweep through my body. I was doing this. I was doing this! Holy shit, I was actually doing this! "What's your battle center letter?"

"F," he replied and I blinked. Well, isn't that just a coincidence? Not-so-dear author of mine, what exactly are you trying to pull with this?

I cracked my back. "Whaddya know? Looks like this isn't where we part ways, then. That's mine too! Let's give this Exam all we've got, huh?"

"Yeah…" Shinsou stood up, his fingers clenching his printout tightly. "Yeah, I'll pass this test for sure."

I grinned widely at that. He definitely would; we _both_ would. All we had to do was aim for the top and not give it up for anything.

~o~

U.A. HIGH SCHOOL HERO COURSE  
ENTRANCE EXAM  
BATTLE CENTER F

Not giving up the top for anything was much, much easier said than done.

We made our way to the battle center and grouped up at the entrance to the massive area our urban battle would be taking place in. We'd changed out of our suits and ties that we'd all worn to Present Mic's little show, and I was now in a blue track suit Inko had bought for me.

The battle center was _huge_ ; modern, cement skyscrapers towering above various smaller buildings. Colorful overhangs stuck out from faux shops, and they even had billboards with all sorts of advertisements for things that didn't actually exist. My jaw dropped as I stared at the sheer amount of space the walled-off arena took up. And they had _six other_ battle centers identical or nearly identical to this one? Briefly I wondered how the _hell_ they had enough money for all of this shit, then I remembered two things: One, this was U.A., and two, Cementoss's Quirk was a thing. He probably could build all or most of this free-of-charge in a matter of days.

Then the buzzer sounded to begin the Exam, and I had no more time for idle musing.

I pounded across the pavement and into Battle Center F, bumping roughly against the other examinee's shoulders. A lot of pushing, shoving, and shouting rose up from the other examinees as we began to filter through the center's gate, but I paid this no mind. Instead, I began to strategize; how could I best accumulate points? Where would the most robots be? Moving away from the crowd could allow me to ensure others wouldn't steal my kills, but it would also mean that I wouldn't be able to win hero points. And those could be all the difference between passing and failing, or between making Class 1-A or not.

I decided to get the best of both worlds; move further away from the pack, but also be sure to keep some of the other Battle Center F examinees in my sights. I ducked into a side street just in time to have a bit of wall crumble above me. Before my eyes, a robot fell towards me; the white numerals on its arms identified it as a two-point villain. And it was falling fast.

"Shit," I gulped, and I leaped backwards. The robot smashed into the ground in front of me, and some of its plating jostled off due to the impact. Memories of the show's tournament arc flashed through my mind. Thinking fast, I dashed forward. The two-point robot swiped a heavy-looking hand at me, but thanks to Gunhead's training, I was able to see it coming with enough time to duck underneath the blunt attack. I rolled behind the robot and scooped up its loosened plating.

Time to fight fire with fire.

" _Improvised Special Attack!_ " I shouted, slamming the jagged piece of plating into the robot's head. " _Stop Hitting Yourself!_ "

Steel cracked and caved in, and electricity sparked. The robot toppled to the ground in a heap of metal with the piece of plating still buried in its head. There was two points for me.

I continued running down the streets after a solid yank on my makeshift weapon dislodged it from the robot's head. We were now one minute into the fight, according to Present Mic's announcement. I hurried down the street as other examinees started to pour into it. Four robots charged up the pavement at us, but the other examinees were starting to pass me now. I wasn't the fastest runner normally, and lugging around the robot's plating just made me slower; if something wasn't done, I wouldn't get those points.

Time to smoke the competition.

I imagined smoke filling my chest and stomach, and then flying out of me. "White Out!" I shouted, emulating the attack naming scheme of _One Piece_ 's Marine Captain Smoker. My element burst from my main body and billowed behind me, so my vision wouldn't be restricted. Now that my body was matter-less, I was lighter and quicker… and my sense of balance was thrown off. I staggered and lost a few precious seconds windmilling to not fall over, but adjusted and sped forward.

My increased speed totally made up for the time lost. I dashed forward with a huge battle cry and breezed by the examinees who'd passed me moments earlier. I slammed my heavy weapon into the stomach of a three-point villain, let swipes from a couple two-pointers pass through my ghostly body (it did unfortunately rip my blue tracksuit, though—my clothes didn't transform with me, meaning that I had to keep at least some parts of my body non-transparent when going smoke mode if I didn't want my clothes to fall off) and tricked them into hitting each other. I had to again yank out my weapon from the three-pointer, and tried to smash it into the last villain in the group. Before I could, though, chains shot through the air and wrapped around it, completely immobilizing it. After fully wrapping their target, the remaining length of chains that wasn't needed broke off and started to slide backwards along the ground.

My eyes followed them down to the group of examinees who'd been passing me before. One of them had chains for fingers, and upon all the chains retracting back to normal, they transformed back into actual flesh and bone.

"Thanks a million!" he said with a cheeky wink. "That's three points for me!"

My eye twitched. "You're welcome," I grumbled, dashing off away from them. "And that's nine points for me…" When I was far enough ahead of them that it wouldn't matter, I let my smoke come back to me early. I didn't want to risk going over my minute-and-a-half limit; I'd learned that if I accidentally pushed it too far, I'd be unable to move for a short amount of time.

And so it went. I searched the city streets, racking up points wherever I could. Breaking my piece of metal plating over a one-pointer next to the battle center's walls brought me up to ten points. Taking on another group of five got me injured and knocked aside, which meant I had to be saved by Tetsutetsu as he leaped out of an alley. I got another two points out of it, though, bringing my total to twelve. Four minutes were up by then, so I thanked the silver-colored steel boy and powered off to earn myself another three points by overloading the circuits of a two-pointer and one-pointer with smoke pressure.

It became increasingly hard to find non-immobilized or destroyed villains as the minutes wore on. I hadn't gotten the chance to save anyone, either—hell, _I'd_ had to get saved once instead. This in mind, I headed back to the battle center's central street and managed to take out another one-pointer. The sparking shells of robots were everywhere, some of them sporting massive dents in their heads, others sunk partway into the street like quicksand, and still others bound up with various materials (I thought I saw a one-pointer with Mineta's little sticky balls trapping it on the ground). The street itself had suffered a good deal of damage, too; cracks and fractures broke it up in jagged lines, rubble from nearby damaged buildings littered the cement sidewalk, and the effects of various Quirks ate away at the pavement here and there.

I leaped over a pile of rubble and loose cement pebbles and rushed through a small cloud of dust that clung to the street. I had just had the misfortune to stub my toe on a demolished fire hydrant ( _ow_ ) when I saw an unidentified flying robot get launched into a building within running distance from me. A jagged slab of the building crumbled off the rest and fell down towards a girl who was too busy engaging in combat with several other robots to notice; it wasn't big enough to kill her or paralyze her or anything, but it could injure her pretty badly. And she wouldn't be aware of the oncoming rubble until it was too late.

Time switched into slow-motion, and my hands clenched into fists. _Shit!_

"WHITE OUT!" I shouted, and felt the familiar feeling of all the weight in my stomach leaving me. I barreled forward, smoke curling behind me as I dived through the air. I shouted, "HEY, LOOK ABOVE YOU!" but the girl glanced at me instead of up, where the danger was. I briefly noted the long, flesh-colored extensions dangling from her ears before I slammed into her, having reabsorbed my smoke at the last minute.

"OI, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?" she cried in surprise as we tumbled to the floor and rolled to safety. The hunk of alabaster cement crashed into the sidewalk, shattering into hundreds of smaller pieces. I scrambled off of her, panting from adrenaline racing through me.

"You're welcome for the save," I quipped sarcastically, offering her a hand up. It was only then that I was able to get a good enough look at her to recognize her as Jirou Kyouka, user of the Earphone Jack Quirk. Her short, purple hair with its asymmetric bangs (which was really more annoying than it should be to see in real life), her black leather jacket, peach-colored shirt, and black choker all were high evidence of this. The things that pointed it out the most, though, were the long earphone jacks dangling from her earlobes and her onyx, almost triangular eyes—it was really remarkable how recognizable the MHA girls were from just their eyes.

 _She's really cute in real life_ , I thought with a blink. Of course, she'd always been very high in my rankings of Best Girl in the show, so this was no surprise. It was even less of a surprise when one considered that _all_ of the MHA girls were Best Girl.

But I digress.

She accepted my help and I lifted her up to her feet. Her eyes strayed past me to the wreckage of the rubble and widened considerably. "Oh. Thanks. That probably wouldn't have caused any lasting damage, but it definitely would've hurt me enough to knock me out of commission for the rest of the Exam, so thank you."

"Don't mention it," I told her, giving her a little salute, but Jirou suddenly gasped and tore past me.

She shouted, " _Watch out!_ " as a burst of pure sound blasted from her earphone jacks. I whirled around in time to see two three-pointers, the ones she'd been battling, get ripped apart by her sound. She'd stabbed the metal parts of her jacks directly into them as they'd tried to attack me from behind. She grunted. "Well, there's thirty-seven points."

"Thanks," I gulped, and she smirked.

"Don't mention it," Jirou said with a sassy little salute of her own, and promptly raced off into a side street in search of other robot villains. I stared after her, a grin spreading up my face.

Yep. I _definitely_ liked her.

I ran further down main street, past a brick building claiming to be a bookstore and a few empty buildings modeled after walk-up restaurants. Vaguely, I wondered how many points that rescue earned me. Since they were scored by a panel of judges, it could be any amount.

"Six minutes!" came Present Mic's far-too-excited announcement.

 _Oh, shit, shit, shit!_ Goddammit! Six minutes up already, and I still only had sixteen points for certain? Not good, not good! Panicking, I created another makeshift weapon by tearing off a piece of plating that hung loose from a nearby wrecked villain, the cords connecting it to the main body frayed. It came off with a clatter. This done, I ran as fast as I could into an alley, where a couple two-pointers and a one-pointer burst from a nearby wall.

Two minutes later, I'd only managed to bring myself up to twenty-three points when the entire ground shook. I lost my footing and nose-dived into the hard pavement.

 _Owwww_. I think my nose was broken, or at least annoyingly damaged. I could practically hear snickering from the other side of the cameras. After all, here I was taking a hero school's exam and I'd just tripped over my own too feet. I grumbled unintelligible curses and picked myself up while dusting off my now-dirtied blue track suit. The ground shook again and a couple pieces of rubble tumbled off from a damaged apartment complex in front of me, but this time I was prepared. I steadied myself and looked up, suspecting the source of the rumbling.

I paled.

"That's one big robot," I squeaked.

The zero-point obstacle was _huge_. Taller than any of the skyscrapers in the battle center, it loomed against the mostly cloudless, periwinkle sky and cut an imposing figure above the city. I could see it had one glowing red eye on the left of its elongated head. From what I could see over the rooftops nearby, it had one massive paw leaning it against a tall obelisk-inspired tower, and another supporting it on a faux school. My body, unable to understand how something so _huge_ was moving easily, simply shut down for a few moments.

There was _no_ fighting that thing. Not with my Quirk. It was just _too big_. Seeing it in the anime and seeing it in real life were simply two _entirely_ different things.

Basic motor function returned as my momentary scared-stiff reaction passed. I ran for my life—back into main street, back down towards the battle center's exit. I mixed into the group of other similarly fleeing examinees. Even in my terrified panic, I happened to recognize a few of them: the despicable lech Mineta, the orangette of canon's Class 1-B, Kendo, and the guy who I always labeled the 'Silent and Gentle Giant' from canon's 1-A but whose name I always forgot. Someone stumbled and tripped, and I happened to see Shinsou up ahead of me.

I poured on the speed and drew up alongside him.

"Evan," he acknowledged, a little terrified and no doubt due to the fucking _HUGE_ villain-bot behind us.

I jabbed my thumb back behind me. "It shouldn't be legal for that thing to exist!" I panted as my feet pounded against the pavement. Meanwhile, the robot was giving chase. Although its size meant that it was clunky and slow, the sheer length of its green metal limbs made up for this.

Shinsou stayed silent, but judging by his even paler than usual face, he agreed.

"How many points do you have?" I asked my friend. He winced.

"Only four," he admitted. "I saw you attacking those robots with their own armour a minute ago and thought it was a good idea, but it was too late for me to find many other villains. I've mostly been rescuing people in trouble."

Nice. Hopefully that'd be enough for him to to pass the exam, and better yet, get into Class 1-A. I looked back, wondering how close the zero-pointer was to us now, and gulped when I saw two small boys frozen in fear directly in its path. In another two steps, they'd be mere grease puddles beneath its hard feet. I felt my vision snap and tunnel to them, and I dashed forward. Smoke began to billow behind me…

And I paused, glancing at Shinsou who kept running, although he did look over his shoulder at me curiously.

My new friend had only four points. That definitely wasn't enough for him to pass, not unless his rescuing escapades netted him enough points. On the other hand, I had twenty-three points, plus whatever points I'd received from saving Jirou. If the latter didn't bump me up into Class 1-A… well... at least I was kind of guaranteed a spot in 1-B. But Shinsou might not even have that option if I took this save.

The decision was easy, despite the uncomfortable clench in my heart.

"Oi, Shinsou," I called to my purple-haired friend. "Look over there."

He stopped and looked where I pointed. His eyes widened. He took off like a cannon, racing towards the boys with surprising speed. But he wouldn't have enough time to physically reach them—my brief moment of indecision had cost us. The zero-pointer's foot was already rising into the air above them, a single footfall away from crushing them now.

Shinsou gritted his teeth. "OI!" the Brainwashing Quirk user shouted. "YOU TWO BOYS BENEATH THE ROBOT!"

"Help us!" they sobbed, clinging to each other in terror. I assumed they were brothers, but I didn't recognize either, so they must not've been important to the story.

Shinsou's command came swift and solid. " _MOVE TO SAFETY!_ "

The boys, previously frightened beyond all movement, suddenly stiffened. Then they scrambled to their feet and out of harm's way, their eyes glossed over. The robot stepped harmlessly where they'd been moments earlier, and Shinsou released his mind's hold over them. He dashed back up to my side. I grinned widely; how useful of an ability _was_ that even!?

"Your Quirk," I said, fully impressed, "is awesome as _Hell_."

He said nothing in reply, but he didn't need to. His pink ears and soft smile said it all. The buzzer sounded, ringing out across the whole city.

The practical portion of the Entrance Exam was over.

~o~

If there was one thing in the world I hated, it was waiting. Well, and the 2016 presidential election. And cauliflower. Country music, too. And don't even get me started on _SAO_ , _Fairy Tail,_ or _Black Clover_ —

This is no longer just one thing I'm talking about, is it?

 _Sigh_. I can't even stay on topic in my own narration. _Juuuust_ typical…

After both the practical and written portions of the Entrance Exam ended, Inko picked us up and drove us home. Sitting in a silent classroom while filling in bubble sheets for questions like maths, grammar, history, and the rules and regulations placed on heroes had given me time to calm down from the adrenaline rush. I still sported a bruise from that one robot that had landed a mean hit on me, but it was quickly fading thanks to Recovery Girl's super helpful Quirk. She was definitely the backbone of U.A… and the liver! Probably the kidneys if I were to wager.

Erm, right, getting off topic again.

Izukkun's Entrance Exam had gone pretty much as it did in canon from the story he told us. He'd gotten zero points from the robots, and looked much like Shinsou had during our first brief meeting. His voice was emotionless and empty, like what I imagined a zombie's would be if zombies could talk. He didn't mention blowing up the robot, but he did tell us that he'd saved 'that nice girl.'

After we got home, it was just a matter of waiting for our fateful letters to arrive. It would take a week for them to come, and then either we'd achieve our greatest dreams or our lives would be shattered.

Allow me to repeat my earlier statement: I. Hated. Waiting.

I grew restless and antsy. I shuffled through our apartment with a noticeably stiffer gait. I dreamt two nightmares of waking up to one big, fat rejection letter hovering over my pillow like a specter. My martial arts lessons grew more and more reckless as I took bigger risks in fighting Gunhead and his sidekicks alone. I was already a light eater, but I quickly lost my appetite.

My entire future hinged on one little slip of paper (or projection device, depending on whether it was only Izuku who'd receive said device thanks to being All Might's prodigee) tucked into an envelope. I'd scored _decently_ as far as villain points went on the practical test, but I still had no way of knowing my actual score. Not being able to find out yet was actually painful. I remembered a similar feeling back in my old world, when I'd been stuck waiting around for the Brazilian consulate to stop delaying my Visa for my Youth Exchange.

The week crawled by. Inko grew increasingly more nervous and tearful as Izukkun and I practically sleep-walked around the apartment. And then, at long last, the seventh day had come.

I spent most of that Saturday in Gunhead's dojo, sparring nonstop. He'd allowed me to go longer than usual, perhaps seeing that I needed to get all my stress out of my system. I narrowly dodged some rapid-fire punches from one of his sidekicks, a tall man with five pairs of arms, but got caught in a perfect jujitsu throw from another sidekick. The world upended itself, and suddenly when I looked up I saw not the wooden ceiling, but the soft, blue matt we fought on.

 _WHUMP_. The sidekick's hands released their hold on my neck and I picked myself up, groaning. My cheek smarted after that one. Unconsciously, my hazel eyes strayed to a clock on the wall, and observing our spar on the side of the matt, Gunhead followed my gaze.

"It is time for you to go," Gunhead declared, placing his beefy hands at his sides. His sidekicks gathered in a horizontal line behind him, and everyone bowed at me. Gunhead smiled. "I know this week has been tough on you, Evan. I do not know what your Exam results will be, but I hope you receive good news. You've worked hard to get to where you are now. I remember the Gamble Evan who couldn't dodge a single punch thrown by anyone in this dojo, who couldn't land any hits of his own. You are no longer that person. Whether or not U.A. accepts you, I want you to know that I am proud... and should you pass, there will always be a spot in my agency for you."

I swallowed a lump in my throat and felt my eyes well up with tears. This was my last lesson in my sensei's dojo; our agreement had been that he'd train me to get into U.A. He was a busy man, and despite being one of the few pros who accepted students outside of internships, he still had a schedule to attend to after all. Whether my U.A. letter was an acceptance or rejection, he no longer was required to train me. In fact, he technically hadn't needed to continue my lessons after the Entrance Exam had finished; it was only because he'd taken a liking to me that he'd done so.

"Thank you, sensei!" I choked out. Man, I was getting more emotional than I thought I would. I must've gotten closer to Gunhead than I'd thought.

"Good luck." Gunhead and his sidekicks bowed, and I bowed back. Then I stepped off the matt and went over to the training rooms so I could change out of my sweaty karate gi.

Walking home through the streets of Musutafu that evening was even more nerve-racking than fling alone to Brazil back in my old life had been. It felt like rocks had decided to take up lodging in my stomach. I couldn't even remember the events of the route I took home. I only came to awareness when I'd arrived at my host family's apartment complex, a tall, light yellow building actually made up of two separate complexes. I punched in the keycode to get through the door and stiffly walked through through the lounge on the bottom floor, over to the elevator, which I rode up to my floor silently.

"I'm home," I called out as I entered our apartment and slid our door shut behind me. The lights were on and the aroma of seafood still hung in the air, so I must've just missed dinner. The TV blared hero and villain news (something about the League of Witches—I assumed someone must've recognized me at the Exam and word had gotten back to the press, and so I wrote it off without another thought), and Izukkun's dumbbells and weights lay by the couch. Wondering where he was, I kicked off my sneakers and set them by the door. I stumbled into the kitchen to find a plate of sashimi on the counter waiting for me, but before I could start picking at it, a torrent of sobs and pattering feet came from the hall connecting to the kitchen/dining room/living room that I was currently in.

"Evan!" Inko cried as she raced around the corner and scrambled up to me, chest heaving, a letter with the U.A. seal clenched in her hands. "The letter! The letter! It's here! It came while you were walking home!"

I froze. For a few seconds, I just stared at the letter addressed to me in her hands, daring not believe it. Then I snatched it from her with a quick thanks and dashed to my room, closing the door behind me. I leaped onto the chair in front of me oak desk and dropped the letter on its surface.

My room was much tidier than Izuku's. My bookshelf held only a few stacks of books while his overflowed with comics, manga, books, and movies all about superheroes and their lives. My white walls were blank while his were covered in posters of every pro I could name, but mostly All Might. The only counterpoints were that my bed wasn't made (I simply never bothered) and a lot of my clothes were strewn about the floor. Izuku's desk was covered in figurines of pros, though, which continued down around the space on the floor below it, so make of that what you will.

I stared at the letter for a few seconds longer, then stuck my finger underneath its flap and ripped it open. I shook out the small piece of folded paper inside (looks like it was only Izukkun who got the special treatment after all) and unfolded it. Then my tired eyes skimmed over its contents.

My breath caught in my throat.

" _With a final score of twenty-three villain points… and_ thirty-one _rescue points… as well as an eighty-nine on the written test…_ " I choked out a laugh of disbelief as I read it aloud. Was this actually happening? No way could something this amazing actually be happening. Surely I'd wake up and realize this was all a dream. _"We are happy to inform you that you have been accepted into U.A. Academy's Hero Course, Class 1-A_. _"_

I'd… I'd done it.

I'd actually done it! U.A. was now _my_ hero academia!

Pure elation flooded my body, and I threw back my head and _laughed._

~o~

MEANWHILE...

Sirens blared over the city, far across the town from the Midoriyas' apartment. Musutafu Villain Prison was in a state of panic, pieces of the building crumbling and vanishing as they were sucked into miniature black holes. The empty spaces sucked in all the matter nearby and crushed it molecule by molecule until it turned to nothing. Jail wardens, secretaries, and even prisoners ran wild in an attempt to escape the chaos; at least five major Villains kept under lock and key in the cells had already been lost to the voids. Terrified shouts and the stampeding of feet only added to the din, and above it all, a young boy with blue hair, hazel eyes, and a square chin grinned at the chaos he caused.

"Man, this hurts like hell but it is _so_ good to be back!" the Villain known as Lucifer laughed. Clad in a menacing black suit with a design of dark purple fire curling up it, along with a dark purple ski mask around his face, he looked surprisingly menacing. His muscular structure was surprisingly well-toned for his age; just by the size of his muscles, he seemed to be able to bench press at least three times his own weight. His wicked grin thinned into an evil smirk and he nodded his head at the women clothed in black-and-white prison jumpsuits. "Thanks for using that Quirk to get me out of that blasted dimension, ladies. If I had to spend another day listening to that Dorito with a god complex complain about being defeated by a couple twelve-year-olds, I'd have tried to kill myself just out of spite."

The ladies all swooned. "IT IS NO PROBLEM, LORD!" they all shouted at once, standing rapt at attention. "IT IS WE WHO SHOULD BE THANKING YOU FOR FREEING US!"

"And me as well," a gruff voice said, and to Lucifer's surprise, a very, very short man with a ridiculously long nose stepped out from a nearby hallway as the walls behind him were blasted to bits. "I am quite grateful to you for finally being free of those blasted Quirk-suppressant handcuffs. The Warden's Kryptonite Quirk is really quite cumbersome."

Lucifer regarded him with a raised eyebrow. Despite his unassuming stature, the Villain could feel something strong from him; he had a knack for gauging the strength of people around him. "Do not thank me," he said suspiciously, shrugging. "Thank my League of Witches for having the guts to steal a spare key for Salem's handcuffs, enabling her to use her Quirk to summon me here. What is it that you want?"

"I would like to team up with you," the small man said, bowing respectfully at Lucifer and his League of Witches. Meanwhile, the jailhouse trembled under the stress of the black holes ripping it to dust. "My name is Imperius, and I believe my Quirk may be of use to you and yours. You wish revenge on All Might, do you not?"

The lights flickering in the prison hall, Lucifer narrowed his eyes. "That is correct. And it is also correct that I need more power to take him on… that last fight proved that."

"Then allow me to join your forces." Imperius, his bald head gleaming in the darkness like a mirror, grinned savagely. "I can get us connections with people who have the power and desire to take down All Might. Plus, I do believe you may find that my powers are exactly what you need for this mission."

Lucifer studied him a couple minutes more. Then he nodded. "Very well, I will accept your offer. Imperius, from here on you shall be the ally of the League of Witches. Now, then, take us to these people you speak of who can help take down All Might."

"Gladly," Imperius breathed, a savage grin pulling the corners of his lips up. And he turned and stepped out into the chaotic prison. After a moment's pause, Lucifer and the Witches followed.

And so the wheel of evil turns…


	4. I Make a Choice

Chapter 4: I Make a Choice

Somehow, Inko was even happier than us that both of her sons had managed to scrape by and pass the Entrance Exam. She burst into uncontrollable tears when Izukkun and I stepped out of our rooms and told her the good news. Izukkun looked happy for the first time since February 26th, the day of the Exam, and I was incredibly relieved. I finally allowed myself to relax.

We celebrated by going out to eat for breakfast the next morning. Inko's hands never let go of her phone, which was in permanent camera mode throughout the whole meal. After that, we went to the store to buy all our school supplies. But as the morning dragged on, I noticed something strange: everyone seemed to be on edge. That felt weird to me, so as we walked through Japan's version of a Target, I nudged Izukkun and asked, "Oi, do you notice how… awkward and nervous everyone's been acting?"

Izukkun frowned and nodded. "Yeah… I don't know why though. Maybe something happened on the hero news?" Humming, he pulled out his phone and turned it on, then pressed on his Google app and navigated to the main hero news webfeed. He carefully read the kanji on his screen for a minute or two, his face growing increasingly pale as he did. I blinked, wondering what could make him look that nervous… well, okay, a lot of things could, really, but this felt different somehow.

"Izukkun?" I asked, frowning with worry. "Is everything alright?"

Inko, who had noticed her son's concern as well, nervously twiddled her fingers. "Yeah, did something bad happen on the news?"

"Real bad," Izukkun gulped, showing us the phone screen. A picture of a totally demolished building that looked like a jail took up a good portion of it, with a headline in big, red symbols. "The League of Witches managed to escape jail and completely wrecked it, too, by summoning the real Lucifer here. The Witches are currently at large, and it is unknown where they are, because their hideout is deserted and no witnesses have come forward. Most of the other inmates who had fled the jail in the chaos have since been found and captured overnight thanks to heroes working overtime, but the whereabouts of several of these Villains are still unknown. They're mainly small-time, except for one named Imperius.

"Not much is known about his Quirk other than that it causes some sort of mind control effect. The heroes and police are most concerned with bringing him to justice among the others, because he once got away with robbing five banks in broad daylight, all in the same day, and nearly assassinated the prime minister while only walking through the front doors. The only reason he failed at all is because All Might managed to stop him before his Quirk had time to work."

"I remember seeing that on the news," Inko gasped, paling. "That was terrifying. All those poor people acted like zombies until he was defeated… that was last year, wasn't it?"

Izukkun nodded, then turned to me with a stricken look on his face. "But… that's not the important part. Evan, there's… there's rumors that the League of Witches might come looking for you for revenge on getting them captured."

"What?" I blinked rapidly, and felt my body go stiff. "Why? I didn't do anything! It's their own fault for mistaking me for their stupid leader!"

"Apparently when the portal you came through opened up, it gave off large waves of energy that scientists picked up on and allowed them to notify the police. That's how they and All Might were able to find the League's hideout and rescue you." The curly haired kid stopped walking and swallowed a dry lump of air. "It's unknown to the general public where you are right now, but the League could try to find out and come for you."

I felt myself shiver involuntarily. The so-called 'witches' themselves hadn't seemed to have any combat-based Quirks, at least not the most prominent members, but I was sure that wasn't their only fighting skills. And that Lucifer guy was said to have a Quirk called Black Hole… if it was anything like Thirteen's version of the Quirk, that was _bad news_. Come to think of it, it was kinda weird that there were two people with the same Quirk and they were on opposite sides of the wall of justice… Other Me, _what_ are you pulling now? Did you plan this to be ironic in some weird way, or did you just forget that there was already someone with a Quirk named Black Hole?

Needless to say, that made everyone a lot more nervous as the April 1st, the first day of school at U.A., continued to approach. The fact that the police actually thought that I was apparently in enough trouble to need police guarding our house was even more of an issue, although I briefly wondered why they hadn't assigned small-time pros to the task. Maybe they were just too busy dealing with the fall-out of the League of Witches's jailbreak as well as the normal Villain attacks? That seemed like a legit enough answer for me, at least. Whatever the case, not a word was heard from the League of Witches throughout the next two weeks, and eventually the police deemed me safe at last. Our guards left one week before school.

For the last week, I simply sat back and relaxed, pleased at how I'd made it in. Izukkun had been continuing his own fitness since the Exam, but I allowed myself a break. I mostly hung out playing video games or reading manga/watching anime. What? I had just achieved my biggest dream by putting my body through seven months of hell! My poor aching muscles needed rest, and I needed a break from all that self-induced pain!

Now, you may be wondering, what is a guy who hates pain doing, shooting for a profession where combat is all but guaranteed? Simple: since my Quirk isn't exactly combat-oriented, I'd been planning on being a more stealth operation- and rescue-based hero. I wouldn't have to directly involve myself in many potentially painful positions. Also, the very fact that I would be a hero and saving people's lives pretty much outweighed my desire for painlessness anyway.

Ahem. Anyway!

At long last, it was the morning of our first day of school. Izukkun and I made sure that we had all of our necessary supplies and books, and then it was out the door we went… but not before Inko stopped us.

"Wait, Izuku, Evan," she said, and we turned around to see her standing there in the apartment building parlor with wet eyes. Her smile covered her whole face, and she looked like the proudest mother on the planet. She pulled Izukkun into a big bear hug and held him close. "I'm so sorry for not giving you the support you needed all those years ago, Izuku," she told him sadly. "I should've had more faith in you. Listen to me: you will be the greatest hero ever, I just know it."

Izukkun wiped his eyes, which threatened to explode like geysers, with his arm. "Thanks mom," he sniffled. They held each other for a couple moments longer before letting go. Hiccupping lightly, Inko hurried over to me and hugged me this time. I relaxed into her warm, motherly arms. I've said it before and I'll say it again—Inko's hugs were the best hugs.

"You've come so far these past eight months, Evan," she whispered with a soft, happy voice. "You're such a kind and caring person… just like Izuku. Thank you so much for standing up for him in school. Can you make sure he fits in at U.A.? He hasn't really had many friends and I worry about him a lot."

"Of course," I said brightly, returning her hug. "I'd do it even if you didn't ask me to."

Inko sniffled, and now I knew the dam was threatening to burst any second. "Y-You're b-both going to be s-s-such great pros…" she cried, releasing me and smiling even wider. She gulped once, then twice, and Izukkun and I sweatdropped. We'd been down this road enough times to know where it would lead. And sure enough, there went the waterworks at last.

"Ah! M-Mom, you don't have t-to overdo it," Izukkun gulped, waving his hands about in concern.

Inko wiped her eyes. "Nonsense. It's m-my job to worry about you two. N-Now go and… go and hurry so you're not late for school!"

"Right!" we declared, and promptly ran out our apartment building door into the early morning sun. "See you!"

We ran to the train station and took the line to bring us as close as possible to U.A. I got some unwanted attention from the crowd on the train, who recognized me from my unfortunate dimensional kidnapping, and when it stopped, we had to fight through a growing crowd of people asking all sorts of questions just to get out the doors. Like, seriously, guys, that happened _nine months ago_! Give it a break! Anyway, from there, we only needed to walk a couple city blocks until we reached our school. We presented our student passes to the U.A. Barriers scanner and entered with a skip in our step. After that, we made our way into the U.A. building itself, and after a couple minutes, finally found ourselves in front of the ridiculously tall door to Class 1-A.

I glanced at Izukkun, whose hands trembled a little and whose forehead was a tad slick with sweat.

"You nervous?" I asked, bopping him on the shoulder like the cool older brother I was. No, I'm not just saying that to make convince myself I was cool. What would make you say that?

"...Yeah, a little," he admitted. "After being Quirkless for so long, it… it feels like I cheated somehow."

"HA!" I chortled suddenly, causing the poor guy to jump. "Don't worry about it dude. That was all you out there in the Entrance Exam, all your power. You earned this spot fair and square." I grinned and patted his shoulder reassuringly. "Now, whaddya say we open this door together?"

My little host brother blinked and grinned gratefully. "Yeah, sure."

I placed my hands on the door and Izukkun followed suit. "On my mark, then… three, two, one, _now_!"

Excitement pooling in our guts and replacing our nervousness, we pushed open the door and took in the contents of our class. Immediately, we saw none other than tall, muscular Iida waving his arm like he was doing the robot and reprimanding a pissed Bakugou because he'd put his feet on his desk. Iida's hair was combed neatly, his glasses square and expensive-looking. His grey school uniform was perfectly wrinkle-free, and his red tie hung straight down the center of his chest. He was pretty much as stark a contrast to Bakugou's enormously spiky hair and carelessly messy uniform, and whose tie folded in on itself somewhat.

It was really amazing just how much their appearances spoke of their personalities. Even if I'd never have met them before, I would've immediately been able to peg Iida as the straight-laced Hermione Granger type, and Bakugou and his condescending sneer as the Draco Malfoy type.

Izukkun paled. "Of course they're _both_ here…" he moaned.

Snorting, I shrugged and rubbed the back of my head. "Did you expect Bakugou of all people to settle for anything less than the top? I mean, he _did_ score the highest of anyone on the Exam even without rescue points. They'd have to be crazy not to put him in here. It's not like he's an idiot when it comes to textbooks, after all."

Considering his less than respectable actions towards my little host brother, it really was surprising how smart Bakugou actually was. He just had a really big stick up his ass when it came to other people.

"True…" Izukkun relented. He gulped and started to step into the classroom, but no sooner had he done so than Iida, reeling from shock at Bakugou's attitude, spotted him and robot-walked over to him, saluting him and likewise me.

"Hello!" he greeted us amiably, reaching out for a handshake. "It is a pleasure to meet both of you! I'm Iida Tenya from Soumei Junior High—"

Behind the amusingly stiff boy, Bakugou, his feet still on the desk scoffed.

"Ohh, yeah, I overheard…" Izukkun started to stammer, and I decided to leave them to their own to devices and make my way to my desk.

"It's nice to meet you, too, Iida," I said pleasantly, nodding as I stepped past him. "I hope we can become good friends."

I could actually _feel_ Bakugou's glare radiate to me as I passed by him, but I pointedly ignored him and instead drank in the rest of the room. It was surprisingly big, large enough for the twenty students in the class (including my host brother and I) and one teacher's desk. The roof was also very high like the hall outside it, probably for the convenience of those whose Quirks made them unfortunately taller. That was surprisingly progressive thinking for Japan; I approved. At the right wall, a row of windows overlooked the gorgeous school grounds below us. It seemed Izuku and I were among the last people to arrive, because all other seats except for three were filled.

As my eyes roamed over the students, I caught sight of messy, purple hair, and my eyes widened happily. "Oi, Shinsou!" I called out, and my friend looked up from the book he'd been peacefully reading in surprise. I waved and hurried over to him and offered him a high-five, which he hesitated before accepting. "It's great to see you passed, man!"

"Thanks," Shinsou said quietly, a small smile on his face. "It was only because of what you said that I was able to."

"No problem, buddy," I cheered, pumping my fist in the air. "I'm just glad we're both here."

Now, then, since both Shinsou and I had made it in, and the class still had only twenty students like it had had in canon, that meant two canon students hadn't been able to enter 1-A. My eyes scanned back over the crowd in an attempt to figure out who was missing. As far as I could tell, I saw no signs of little pervy guys with purple balls on their heads, which thankfully meant I wouldn't have to deal with the utter horror that was Mineta. I also couldn't see that rocky-headed gentle giant fellow whose name I _still_ couldn't remember. In the back of my mind, I wondered if they'd made it in Class 1-B instead, but I really hoped Mineta didn't. Why? Because he was… well, because Mineta was Mineta.

Slowly, all conversations ceased due to someone drawling lazily, "If you're going to be hunting for buddies, do it elsewhere."

A spiky, redheaded boy I immediately recognized to be Kirishima, who had already been striking up conversations with several other students including the multiple-armed boy Shoji and the electricity producer Kaminari, tilted his head and blinked. "Who was that?" he asked nobody in particular. Nobody answered him forever, because everyone who could see past Izukkun, Iida, and now Uraraka were staring in shock at the hallway.

The sound of someone loudly slurping through a straw and the crinkling of plastic broke the silence.

"This is the heroics department," the same bland, uncaring voice declared. Suddenly, there was a ruffling of cloth or something similar, and the tall, round form of a tired-looking man in a bee yellow sleeping bag stood up behind Izukkun and his new friends. His eyes were shot and he had dark bags underneath them. Unkempt black hair stuck out from underneath the sleeping bag. A now-emptied juice pouch was clenched in his right hand, a dribble of it sliding down his chin. He was clearly no morning person.

The entire class sweatdropped, even Bakugou and Shinsou. I knew all about Aizawa's sleepiness and quirkiness (ha ha), and even _I_ felt my jaw drop a little. That was just… really weird. He looked like a homeless person had just walked into U.A.

Aizawa Shouta lazily unzipped his sleeping bag and stepped out of it, not once looking even the slightest bit interested in any of these new Class 1-A students. "Hmm, it took you lot 8 seconds to quiet down," he stated bluntly. "Life is short, kids. You're all lacking in common sense. I'm your homeroom teacher, Aizawa Shouta. Pleasure meeting you."

Several feet away from us, a pink girl with pink hair and horns, whom I knew to be Mina, blinked rapidly. "... _He's_ a character," she whispered to a floating girl's uniform, and a quiet, bodiless giggle floated in the air.

 _Pfft, you're_ all _characters,_ I sort of wanted to say, but kept my thoughts to myself. Meta humor like that is only understandable for those who are outside of the story, after all. And anyway, Aizawa was already pulling something out of his sleeping bag, which was revealed to be the same indigo tracksuits used during the Sports Festival in the show. He showed these to us and blinked groggily.

"Wear these," he murmured. "Immediately. And then shove off to the P.E. grounds."

I sweatdropped. Wait, had he just kept them in the same sleeping bag that he'd been apparently lying in all this time? ...Ew. Well, now it was time for this shit. I looked at a slightly worried Izukkun with a frown. Hopefully I could alleviate things for him just a little… it was worth a shot. But how to do so…? And how could I use my Quirk to get an advantage if things did go as canon...?

~o~

"Today we'll be having a Quirk assessment test," Mr. Aizawa announced once we'd all changed in our respective gender's locker rooms and met him in the P.E. grounds. This was basically one large dirt field surrounded with a fence on one side that sectioned it off from where the main academy was, a forest, a building containing the locker rooms and rest rooms, and another building that likely was storage. Various markings in white chalk were laid out on the dirt field to help measure data for the exercises we'd be doing.

Everyone gaped in surprise. "A QUIRK ASSESSMENT TEST!?" most of the other students shouted, their jaws hanging low.

"What about the entrance ceremony? The orientation?" Poor Uraraka scrunched down nervously, clearly confused as to just what the hell was going on. I, however, nodded to myself; time to try and win a little support for our class from Aizawa.

"Well, we _are_ training to be heroes in the most prestigious hero academy," I pointed out with a shrug. "It's a bit of a surprise, sure, but it also makes sense that the teachers would want to be sure we're good fits for the class."

Aizawa, swathed in his unimpressive, baggy black clothes, his white cloths wrapped around his neck, turned to me and blinked. "That's right, sort of," he confirmed. He then looked at the rest of the class. "It's more like we just don't have time for those leisurely events, though. U.A.'s selling point is how unrestricted its school traditions are, and that includes how the teachers run their classes."

The class swallowed a little nervously. Even without trying to be and even as scruffy as he was, Mr. Aizawa was quite intimidating. The homeroom teacher paid this no mind, however.

"You've been doing these since middle school, right?" Yawning without bothering to cover his mouth, the pro hero held up a cellphone with a plan for the day on its screen in kanji. "Physical fitness tests where you weren't allowed to use your Quirks. The country still uses averages taken from results from students not using their Quirks. It defies logic. Well, the Ministry of Education is procrastinating." The dark-haired man's gaze fell on Bakugou, who stiffened proudly. "Bakugou, you finished on the top of the practical exam, right?"

Bakugou blinked, and all eyes turned to him unintentionally.

"In middle school, what was the best result on your softball throw?"

"67 meters," Bakugou answered immediately. I blinked. Had he actually memorized that? ...Why?

Aizawa tossed him a softball he produced from nowhere and tossed it at him, which the blond boy caught easily. "Then, try doing it with your Quirk."

My attention strayed here as I again thought about what I could do to bump up my score. My average for these tests wouldn't be too bad thanks to my fitness training, but it wouldn't be all that good either. Normally speaking, I was probably even less fit than Izukkun at this point. With my Quirk, though, I figured I might be able to push myself up a few pegs. I already would be able to get a good headstart on the dash and the long jump, but the others would be a bit tricky… and it would probably be best to have some backup plans in case I ended up in a group with people faster than me.

Briefly, I heard an explosion, and some awed muttering, but I didn't fully register any of it until I felt myself get wrapped in cloth. I yelped and immediately was thrust back from my thoughts to the real world. I gasped and tried to go smokey, but found that I couldn't; upon collecting my thoughts, I realized Mr. Aizawa had wrapped me up and was using his Erasure Quirk on me to secure me for… whatever reason.

Izukkun gasped and looked at Mr. Aizawa with wide eyes. "Now I recognize you!" he exclaimed. "You must be the pro hero Eraserhead!"

"That's correct," Aizawa said, keeping his eyes trained on me. "Evan, you weren't paying attention. You all seem to not be taking this seriously. Very well. Then the person who scores last on these tests overall will be judged to have no potential and be punished with expulsion."

Stunned murmurings rose up from the other students, and Uraraka gulped. I felt some of the students, including Kaminari and Aoyama, frown at me. Shinsou and Izukkun looked entirely betrayed, and I winced. Here I'd been hoping to make things go a bit easier for them all, and now I was the cause for this extra little bit of stress.

"E-Expelled?" Uraraka, a petite brunette with seemingly omnipresent blush 'stickers' on her cheeks, stammered. "Last place will be expelled? But it's the first day of school! No, wait, even if this _wasn't_ the first day, that's still way too unfair!"

I bit my lip. Well, if I was the biggest cause of it this time, then perhaps I could still salvage some favor for the class. I gritted my teeth and bowed low. "No, he's right," I said apologetically. "My not paying attention was inexcusable for U.A.'s top class in the hero course. My apologies, Mr. Aizawa. I promise you that it won't happen again." I straightened up to look him in the eye and show him I was being serious. "If you want to reprimand me for my actions, that's fine and I deserve it, but please don't punish the rest of the class as well. I'm sure some of their Quirks don't give any physical advantages, so it would only cause them unnecessary stress."

Mr. Aizawa lifted his eyebrow. "You're willing to follow through with my decision even if I decide to expel you?" he asked, a strange smirk spreading across his face.

A stab of fear and doubt struck through me. Was Aizawa really going to expel me for this if I said yes? Knowing him and his reputation, it might entirely be the case. Then again, his question might just be one of his logical ruses… but should I risk that? It might be better to save myself the mental stress and just fall back and allow the last-place-expulsion to occur, especially since I knew that Izukkun could impress Aizawa enough to turn around on his decision. Then I stiffened in abrupt horror and looked over at Shinsou, who had again fallen into his zombie-like state of terrified depression.

This time, Izukkun wasn't the only one who was at risk if this all went through. Hadn't it been stated in canon that Shinsou's physical capabilities were less than even Izukkun's when he didn't use his Quirk. And if I remembered correctly, many of canon Izukkun's tests were done with the drawback of being in huge amounts of pain due to the softball throw too. So Shinsou would definitely fail this test.

I bit my lip. My fists trembled.

At the end of the day, I shouldn't have even been able to come to this school in the first place. I was a kid from another world, a person who by all means didn't deserve this position. Shinsou on the other hand had dreamt of being a hero from the very beginning and had finally gotten into his dream school. I'd even cheated out a person who should've been in Class 1-A from their spot…

I swallowed, and although it left an extremely bad taste of resignation on my tongue, I said, "...Yeah."

The class fell silent, and I saw Shinsou stare at me with wide eyes that were both horrified and grateful.

Izukkun stiffened and stared at me as well, stunned. "E-Evan, no! That's… y-you shouldn't have t-to…! It's your d-dream, so—!"

"I said yes," I growled, cutting him off, feeling like a ton of weights had been dropped on my shoulders, "and that's it."

Mr. Aizawa studied me for a bit. It was probably only a couple moments, but it felt like an eternity of his bloodshot eyes burning into mine. Then his smirk widened. "Very well," he said, brushing some of his long strands of dark hair away from his forehead. "Last place will not be punished with expulsion."

Cold melancholy settled over me. That was it. My career as a hero was over before it had even begun.

Murmurings broke out among the class, and Kirishima looked at me sadly. "That sucks," he said sympathetically, "but that was real manly of you."

"However," Aizawa added, and my eyes widened in shock, "Evan, you will also not be expelled. You will simply lose a letter on your final grade for today's assessments."

"W-What?" I gasped, hoping beyond hope that I hadn't simply misheard him. "Then y-you mean I'm still in the hero course!?"

"Obviously. It was a logical ruse to test your selflessness."

I sank to the ground in relief, feeling like the weight of the sky itself had lifted off of me. I let out a breath of air I hadn't realized I'd been holding. "Oh man, oh man, I thought I was done for sure…" I babbled as Izukkun grinned widely and gave me a thumbs-up.

"Mr. Aizawa is really brutal," Shouji observed with a sweatdrop.

Bakugou scowled, obviously annoyed that I'd been permitted to stay in.

"By the way, you all should thank Evan," Aizawa said with a frown. "Some of you had mentioned after Bakugou's demonstration that you thought this was fun, and I was fully planning on actually expelling the last place person because you weren't taking this seriously. So you got off easy this time."

The class all shivered a little except for Bakugou, who just sneered.

"Talk about intense," Tokoyami agreed.

Behind me, Jirou raised her eyebrows as she looked at me with interest.

Aizawa sighed, took a bottle of eyedrops out of his pocket, and tilted his head back to squirt them in his eyes. "Now, go split into groups of two for the 50-meter dash," he said as he squeezed the bottle. "It's time to begin."

"Yes, Mr. Aizawa!" we all said, and so did as he asked. I ended up getting paired with Kaminari, who was surprisingly fast even without using his Quirk. I only barely passed him. Shinsou's partner was Shouji, and he brainwashed the poor guy into carrying him through the race, which Aizawa declared was within the rules to the Dupli-Arms boy's chagrin. There wasn't much else to say about the next few tests, though, since neither I nor Shinsou got good scores on any of them except the standing long jump for me. My weightlessness from my Quirk's activation helped me jump farther.

Everything else passed normally until the softball throw. Izukkun stepped up to the circle confidently when it became his turn, and he gripped the hand that didn't hold his softball into a tight fist. "Remember that first time Evan used his Quirk," I thought I heard him mutter, and Aizawa raised his eyebrow. Then Izukkun stepped forward and flung his whole body's weight into the throw, and just the tip of his finger glowed with power for the briefest of seconds.

"DELAWARE SMASH!" he cried, and the softball shot forward as if fired from a cannon.

Bakugou gaped. "What the hell, Deku!?" he demanded as the ball fell just a hair past his own score.

"Interesting," Mr. Aizawa mumbled, smirking. "I almost thought you were going to break your whole arm again and rely on others to save you… but you learned from another's experience?"

"Yes, Mr. Aizawa," Izukkun confirmed, holding up his trembling hand. He had to speak through clenched teeth to not scream in pain.

"Hm. I see…"

I noticed Bakugou starting to step forward, his scowl deeper than ever, and so I decided to try and help Izukkun out a little. "Your Quirk may've manifested super late, but you're starting to control it really well, Izukkun!" I called out cheerfully, causing my host brother to startle in embarrassment and Bakugou to stare at me.

"What the hell, you smokey fuck?" the blond spat. "Don't be stupid! Quirks don't manifest until age four at the latest, but Deku never used a Quirk until just now, so he had to have been hiding his Quirk!"

I shook my head. "Nope. Turns out Izukkun's just a bit of a medical mystery. Weird shit happens all the time and Izukkun's Quirk just happened to be a sort of late bloomer. Until recently, he really was essentially Quirkless. Trust me, I'm his host brother. I'd know."

Uraraka stared at me, then blinked quickly. "Wait a minute," she gasped, "Deku's been Quirkless…?"

Iida's eyes widened and he tapped his chin in thought. "I see… that explains his jumpiness and his bones shattering…"

Bakugou stared from me to my host brother, then back to me, and back to Izukkun again like he was watching a ping pong match. At last, he roughly stuffed his hands in his pockets, spat on the ground, and rejoined the rest of us. "Fucking weird nerds," he grumbled.

I sweatdropped. Toughness…

Aizawa sighed. "Thank you for making me not have to use my Quirk again," he said, nodding towards me. "I have dry eye."

"Don't mention it," I replied, thinking about how unfortunate it was for a person with such a potentially OP Quirk to have dry eye.

Izukkun regrouped with us and gave me a grateful, teary smile. "T-Thanks for that," he sighed.

"You were worried about how to explain your power to Bakugou, huh?" I said knowingly, and my bro nodded, not aware of how entirely knowledgeable I was. I grinned and jabbed my thumb at my chest. "Don't worry, bro, I've got your back! By the way, how _did_ you figure out how to do that? Last time you used it, you said you broke your arm and both legs."

Izukkun rubbed the messy hair on the back of his head as the next person, Mina, went up to Aizawa to get a softball and take her pitch. "Er, well, because of you, actually. I r-remembered you mentioning that the first time you used your Quirk, you concentrated the smoke only in your finger and thought that might work for me, too."

"Oh, er, well then that's good," I laughed awkwardly. I decided not to mention that I'd only did that because I thought using my full body might have been overdoing it a little.

The rest of the little tests passed quickly, and before we knew it, it was over. I'd gotten another good grade on the endurance run, although Izukkun's pain meant that for the last three tests he failed pretty miserably. When it came down to it, Izukkun ended up in last place with Shinsou placing only a few points above him. Shinsou had only achieved this thanks to his manipulation of Shouji, who was now very annoyed at him.

"All of you did well," Mr. Aizawa approved, examining the test scores. "Each of you managed to significantly improve your score from middle school with the use of your quirk. However, these are not the best scores you will ever be able to achieve. Now that you realize your maximums, push yourself to go beyond them. Plus Ultra!"

A feeling like butterflies in my gut, but a sort of excitement version instead of nervousness, settled. For some reason, only now was it setting in that this was my new life. And I was super excited to be in this high school.

"Now change out of those uniforms and return to your classroom for your next class. Your curriculum sheets will be back on your desks as well, so give them a once-over. This class is dismissed."

"Yes, Mr. Aizawa!" we all said in unison, bowing.

The rest of the day passed pretty normally considering this was a hero high school. We had Modern Literature with Cementoss and English with Present Mic after that, and then we had a lunch break. The cafeteria bustled with people from all grades and classes getting their lunches and sitting down, and I was distinctly disappointed to indeed see Mineta waiting in line several yards ahead of me, staring creepily at each girl he saw. My eye twitched something fierce, and I almost wanted to sic Bakugou on him, but first of all, the blond moron would never listen to me, and second of all, even if he _did_ , he'd overdo it.

Still shaking off the boredom of having to sit through normal classes even in a hero school, I got my lunch, which turned out to be a couple mouthwateringly delicious chicken tenders, a heap of lightly salted french fries, and an apple, then chose a can of pineapple juice (pop was never to be drunk, the hated stuff) and started to head off to my table… only to realize that I didn't _have_ a table yet.

I winced. Crap. This might be a bit of an issue. I probably hadn't exactly made myself a lot of friends in the class for almost getting us the possibility of being expelled…

"Oh, hey… Evan, right?" someone said. I lifted my head and immediately saw tall spikes of red hair.

"Oh, hey," I said, smiling weakly. It was Kirishima, grinning wide and pumping his fist. "Yeah, that's me. What's up?"

"Wanna join us at our lunch table?" he asked, turning and pointing to a table near where Iida and Ochako were already talking animatedly with Hagakure and Mina. Izukkun probably would've been with them, but he'd had to go to the infirmary to deal with his finger, and he wasn't going to be back for a little bit. Sitting around the table Kirishima pointed to were Kaminari, Jirou, and Sero. "I noticed you looking a little lost and lonely, and we still have a couple open chairs left. What you did back there during the Quirk assessment test was real manly."

I sighed in relief. "Sure, but do you mind if my buddy Shinsou sits with us too? He's kind of a quiet-type guy, so he probably won't make a lot of friends unless I force him to."

"Oh, sure." The truly ripped boy gave me a bright thumbs-up. "The more the merrier!"

I turned to Shinsou, who was still waiting for Lunch Rush, the hero in charge of our lunches, to pile his food on his tray, and called out, "Oi, Shinsou! Come sit with us when you get your food!"

He shrugged. "Okay," he decided, sounding like he couldn't really care much about it.

Kirishima blinked a little. "That dude really is the quiet type, huh?" he observed. "He has a cool Quirk though. I never imagined he'd make that guy with all the arms carry him, or that the other dude would agree to it." We started to head over to his table, and the red-haired boy grinned. "I'd hate to have to fight your friend."

"I know, right?" I said, grinning. "Like, that dude will be able to solve a ridiculous number of cases peacefully. That's _awesome_!"

"Yeah, especially since he won't have to do all the paperwork!" Kirishima grumbled jealously. "Paperwork is so not manly."

"Tell me about it."

We chuckled as we reached the table and sat down. Kirishima sat next to Kaminari while I sat across from Jirou, who popped a french fry dipped in ketchup in her mouth. "You're the guy who saved me at the Entrance Exam," she recalled, "aren't you?"

"Yep," I answered, grinning. "And you're the girl who saved me. Fancy meeting you here again in the same class!"

She rolled her eyes again. "I'd never settle for anything except U.A., so of course I'd make it here," she deadpanned, though she did seem somewhat amused.

Kaminari, the blond guy with black highlights in his hair who vaguely reminded me of Pikachu, blinked in surprise. "Wait, you two know each other?" he said, looking at me in surprise.

"We met briefly during the Exam," I explained. "I knocked her away from some rubble, she defeated a robot that was attacking me from behind in return. You know, usual boy-meets-girl circumstances."

"You're an idiot," she told me with an amused roll of her eyes.

I smiled winningly. "Tell me something I don't know."

Sero sweatdropped and stared at me with half-lidded eyes. "Dude, you do realize that was an insult, right?" he asked, and I briefly thought that, yes, other than his weirdly shaped elbows, the cellophane guy was really strikingly plain. If he'd been in normal clothes and someone had asked me to pick him out from a crowd, I would've had a tough time of it.

I shrugged. "Well, I mean, I do have my idiotic moments. There even used to be a bit of a running gag with some of my old writing friends about 'pulling an Evan.'"

Kaminari snickered. "What exactly is _pulling an Evan_?"

"Hohhh?" Kirishima's eyes widened with interest. "You write? What about?"

I grabbed one of my chicken tenders with a couple fingers and lifted it up. "Fantasy, adventure… the works. A lot of it's usually inspired by anime or manga or _Harry Potter_ or stuff like that."

"Cool," Shinsou's dry voice stated, and I looked up from the burger I'd just been about to bite into to grin at my friend. He stood there before our table with his lunch tray in hand. He'd chosen a can of Dr. Pepper for his drink; I supposed he had no qualms about drinking soda, unlike me. Hey, sue me! That fizziness is _not_ tasty!

I motioned to the last empty seat in the table. "Oh, hey, Shinsou, come take a seat!" I bit into my juicy tender and relaxed at the taste. Man, that gave me a wave of nostalgia for the US. I grunted, pleased, as I swallowed the bite and went for another. Shinsou slowly sat down next to Sero and set his tray carefully on the table so that it wouldn't touch anyone else's.

"Man, it feels so great to be in U.A.!" Kaminari said, grinning and munching on a few french fries at once. "I still can't believe we made it here, you know? Like, it just doesn't quite feel real yet!"

"I know what you mean," Sero agreed, nodding and sipping some Coca-Cola. I snorted. Even the type of soda he drank was blaringly normal.

Kirishima blinked and then crushed his empty soda can with a hardened, rocky fist. "Hey, we should all hang out tonight!" he decided, grinning widely and standing up. "That would be awesome! Plus, we don't even have any homework since it's the first day of school, so it's perfect! What do you guys say?"

Jirou twirled her jack's cord of skin around her finger as she finished off her last chicken tender. "Sounds good to me," she decided. "One of my favorite bands has a concert here in Musutafu tonight. You guys game? You'd have to buy your own tickets, though, and they'll be pricey since it's real late to buy them. Luckily, they're not terribly popular yet, so there'll still tickets online."

"Ohhhh, really?" Kaminari gasped, leaning forward in excitement. "That'd be Amazarashi, then, right? I was following their Twitter page and saw a tweet about that!"

"Those are the ones," Jirou confirmed.

"Then hell yes! I already have my ticket, anyway! I bought it _ages_ ago!"

Sero blinked and rubbed his chin in thought. "Isn't that the kinda new rock/alternative band that debuted a couple years ago? I've never really listened to them before, but that sounds fun. I never really go to concerts, so this'll be cool."

"I'll have to let my host mom know first, but sure, I'm game," I said. "I love rock." Also the name Amazarashi sounded vaguely familiar, but I couldn't quite place it.

"Rock is manly," Kirishima agreed. "I'm up for that." He turned to Shinsou. "What about you?"

"No thanks," Shinsou said quietly, eating a tender. "I'll just study."

I frowned. "Oh, come on, it'll be fun!"

"We're in U.A." He frowned firmly at me. "I need to study as much as I can. I'll pass."

My face twitched a little at that. Man, talk about having a stick up your butt… Still, I shrugged it off with a smile,relaxed into my chair, grabbed a handful of french fries, and shoved them in my black hole for a mouth. I could definitely get used to this life. It seemed that even despite my earlier blunder, I now had a solid group of IRL friends for, like, the first time ever. Before, I'd only had like, one or two close friend max and all other people I knew were either family, teachers, jerks, or acquaintances. Sometimes a mix of said groups.

I shuddered in memory of that one time my mom had decided to become the cross country coach of my old team. That had pretty much made me drop out altogether; not that I'd had much interest of staying in at all, of course. It had been my mom who'd forced me to join in the first place.

Ahem. Anyway.

Smiling as Jirou snorted at something Sero deadpanned in response to Kaminari, I cracked my back and looked up at the ceiling peacefully. It looked like finally, my life was settling in a good, healthy routine. And I loved every second of it.


	5. Even Jirou is a Nerd

Chapter 5: Even Jirou is a Nerd

Inko was, of course, fine with me going to the movies. Since the concert was rather late in the night, we all went home after school was out. Izukkun and I ended up returning home together, and once we got home, Inko bought a digital ticket on my phone for me. I spent the rest of the night telling her what had happened at school with Izukkun explaining anything I either forgot or wasn't aware of. Then I took a shower as it drew closer to ten thirty, shrugged on some casual wear, and at last met Kirishima, Kaminari, Sero, and Jirou at a local McDonald's. We got a quick bite to eat and then headed out to the concert together.

The train ride was short and sweet, only ten minutes. We sat on the white seats and talked about what it would be like to be in U.A. at last as outside, the night-covered city raced by our train car's windows, bright and illuminated from man-made lights.

"I personally can't wait to get into combat training!" Kirishima told us cheerfully, grinning a wide and toothy grin. He pounded his fists together and Hardened them for maximum emphasis. They echoed with a sound similar to a stone hammer swinging against another stone hammer. "I've been training my ass off to kick some tail! I'm super pumped to test out my Quirk in combat!"

I shivered, thinking about what the next day would bring. "No, thank you. I'm not looking forward to combat."

"Yeah, smoke isn't really suited for fighting, isn't it?" Jirou observed dryly. "The only people that's really effective against are people who are allergic to small particles and stuff."

I wilted and clenched bits of my black camouflage shorts tight in my fists. "No, no, it's not suited for combat at all…"

"Hey, it's okay, man," Kaminari said with a grin. He patted me on the back reassuringly. "I'm sure you'll do great."

"Yeah, the one who won't do so hot is _you_ ," Jirou jeered, smirking. She crossed her arms and draped one leg over the other in a figure-8. "You guys should see what he looks like when he goes past his limit."

His face flushed. "Jirouuuu!" he groaned, hanging his head limply, and the dark-haired Sero's distinctly plain grin widened.

"Ohhhh?" He blinked. "Wait, how would you know what that looks like? You two know each other or something?"

"We went to the same middle school," she explained with a shrug. If I wasn't mistaken, she seemed to sound a little disgruntled by this, as if the very thought of going to the same middle school as Kaminari was disgusting.

Kirishima raised his eyebrow. "No way? Ashido and I went to the same middle school, too."

"Izukkun, Bakugou, and I all went to the same middle school as well," I added.

"Guess it's a pretty small world, then," Sero hummed thoughtfully. "Sadly, I don't really know anyone in U.A. except for you guys. I had an old friend who wanted to go into the Hero Course, too, but he ended up in Shiketsu High after failing U.A.'s Entrance Exam. We haven't talked since."

Kirishima winced. "Ouch. That sucks, man."

"Yeah, I hope he's not too jealous," I said, remembering how Shiketsu was U.A.'s rival hero school.

Sero rubbed the back of his head. "Yeah, me too," he agreed, downtrodden. Then he grinned and shrugged. "Oh, well, it's fine. We didn't live very close to each other, and he became kinda distant after getting a girlfriend in the last few months of middle school, so we probably would've ended up drifting apart eventually, anyway."

Outside, the speed at which the towering buildings flashed by us began to slow down as the train came to a silent stop. Technology was really impressive these days. We at last ceased all motion and jerked forward a hair. A woman's bland, bored voice came over the loudspeakers. " _Bespin Station_ ," the conductor grunted, and the train doors slid open.

Jirou stretched and got to her feet. "Alright, guys, this is our stop," she said, a grin spreading across her face. "From here, the concert hall should only be a ten minute walk. You guys got your tickets?"

"It's all good in the hood," I confirmed, and Kaminari sweatdropped.

"Who the heck says that?" he said, and I shrugged.

"Nerds," Jirou snorted.

"Me," I muttered.

The purplette raised her equally purple eyebrow. "Like I said. Nerds."

We all stood up and I cracked my knuckles in anticipation once we got some space to move forward. Then we shoved our way into the small crowd of people who were exiting the train, no doubt also on their way to the concert. We made our way out the doors and off the station, excitement rising in our guts. The street was busier than it usually would've been at ten thirty at night, due to people commuting to the concert and all, and there were a lot more people walking on the shadow-filled streets, too. Even some of the shops had signs declaring they'd be open a little later than they normally would've been—no doubt to draw in customers after the concert ended.

Sero rolled his gangly arms, with their big and circular elbows, to stretch them a little. "Man, this band must be really popular," he observed, looking at the long river of heads winding in front and behind us. He whistled low. "Didn't you say they just debuted recently?"

Jirou shrugged. " _Sora Ni Utaeba_ is one of the best songs to be released this season," she reasoned. "Their popularity kinda skyrocketed after they made it."

I blinked. "Wait, _Sora Ni Utaeba_?" I repeated, my eyes widening. "No way!"

"You know it?" Kaminari stared excitedly at me, then started singing. " _Kyojitsu o kirisaite!_ "

I grinned widely; I'd never thought I'd hear this song again! _Now_ I knew why the band was familiar; it was the band who'd created the song for the third OP of the MHA anime, _Sora Ni Utaeba_. I supposed some things were just so awesome that they transcended universes. " _Souten o aoide!_ " I sang happily, matching my voice with Kaminari's surprisingly smooth singing.

"Oh, God, there's two of them," Jirou said with a horrified look at us while Kirishima simply shook his head and grinned.

We both looked directly at the despairing girl with red diamonds painted on her cheeks. " _Tobitatta tokoshie!_ "

"We're gonna be listening to it at the concert," she sighed. "I know it's a great song, but can you guys at least wait to sing it until we get there and they actually play it?"

" _SORA NI UTAEBA!_ "

"I think that's a no," Kirishima observed, smirking and shaking his head with amusement.

Sero snickered as Jirou groaned and buried her head in her hands. "You don't say?" He turned to me and jabbed a finger at me. "I thought you didn't know the band?"

"Well, they felt a little familiar, but I'd forgotten their band name," I said with a shrug. "Believe it or not, I actually knew _Sora Ni Utaeba_ from my old world." All of the class had found out that I was the kid from a different world by the end of the school day.

"What? No way!" Kaminari laughed. "Small world. Er… multiverse?"

Jirou blinked. "I thought you were from America?" she said with a frown at me. "How did you know a Japanese song?"

"It was…" I winced. Explaining fully would be awkward, so I'd just leave out the whole _My Hero Academia_ part. "Well, I like anime, and it ended up being one of the opening songs of one of my favorite anime."

"Neat," Sero said, blinking. He turned to me. "What kind of anime do you like?"

And much to Jirou's increasing horror about being the only girl amidst a bunch of nerds, we all immediately started talking about what anime and manga were the best. We didn't stop until we'd made it into the concert and had picked up some snacks and water bottles, either. Even Kirishima liked some of the more manly, battle-oriented series, with a particular taste for _Fist of the North Star_ and _JoJo's_ _Bizarre Adventure_ (the latter being a particular favorite of his). As it turned out, a lot of the more recent series that I was a fan of never ended up being created here in this world, probably because of the fact that people living in a world of heroes and villains didn't really need a lot of shows or comics with those kinds of stories. If they wanted escape from their daily life, all they had to do was read up on some of the top pros or shit like that. A lot of the older manga from the time when Quirks hadn't even been thought of yet, or were just starting to become a thing—series like _Dragon Ball_ , _One Piece_ , _JoJo's_ , and so on—were still in circulation, though.

All of this was very interesting to me, though, being the anime and manga connoisseur that I was. I hadn't known about any of these effects of a Quirky world due to not having had time to spend looking up anime/manga during my training with Gunhead.

The concert was a blast. The music and the crowd was so loud that it shook my very bones and made me afraid I was going deaf, but it was a ridiculous amount of fun to sing along with the crowd to a Japanese song. I unfortunately did not know hardly any of the other songs that Amazarashi played, but I jumped up in the air and pumped my fist while screaming myself hoarse right with everyone else. Kirishima and Sero bobbed their heads to the music, while Kaminari sang at the top of his lungs. Jirou swayed to the intense beats, nodding and smiling, evidently having forgotten all about how her friends were mostly otakus.

Jirou grinned at me as the band started to play another song. "Isn't this awesome!?" she shouted over the din of the audience and the band.

"Amazing!" I shouted back, unbelievably happy. "This is the best night of my life!"

She laughed, and I couldn't help but think how beautiful her laughter was. "They're only just getting started, too! Just wait for the next song, it's their best!"

Music flooding my body, the beat driving me, I grinned. This was the kind of night that made a guy feel truly alive. This was the kind of night that I wished could last forever.

~o~

One thing I wished _wouldn't_ ever last forever: mornings.

I woke up the next day with a sore throat and a bit of a sniffle, groaning as I rolled out of bed. My head felt like someone shoved me into a car crusher, my nose was a waterfall of green, gunky water, and my eyes constantly watered. I coughed roughly as I staggered to my closet and pulled out one of my extra school uniforms. Gingerly, I pulled on the white, cheap dress shirt and buttoned it up, then I fiddled awkwardly with my tie until I had managed to make it look at least presentable. Blearily, I sneezed into my shirt sleeve and grunted in disgust before simply deciding, to hell with it, and shrugging my grey jacket overtop it.

Being sick. Sucked. And I'd been perfectly fine last night, too! Grumbling to myself very weakly about colds and public events, I pulled on my pants and slipped my belt on, and at last stuck my feet in my shoes. A quick knot-tying later, I stumbled out my bedroom door and to the kitchen.

Inko stood there with her back turned to me as I entered. She busied about with a pan on the grill. I couldn't quite smell it well due to all the disgusting gunk in my nostrils, but I thought that perhaps she was frying an egg or two based on what I _could_ smell. My footsteps on the tiled floor alerted her to my presence, and she looked over her shoulder at me and smiled.

"Ah, you're awake!" Inko said with a warm smile, then blinked. Her face paled and she immediately ran from her stove to hover over me with a lot of worried hand waving. "E-Evan, you look terrible!" she cried. "Your f-face is all pale and you l-look still half asleep! And y-you've got snot in your n-nose!"

I cringed. "Don't… remind me," I croaked, hacking up a lung mid-sentence. "It's disgusting enough when I see it coming out…"

"Are you s-sick? Do you need to stay home from school?" Inko really got into it, her mouth firing off at a million miles an hour. I felt my already-aching head pound even worse. "I can call the office and tell them that you don't feel good. I can go to the store and buy some popsicles, maybe get some tea, do you like tea? What kind do you prefer? I remember reading that adding honey is best for sore throats… but Izuku always did well with ginger ale instead of tea, so maybe I should get that instead. Do you have a bad cough? I can get cough drops—!"

"Mom, it's fine, Recovery Girl can probably fix me up no problem," I groaned, and Inko immediately stiffened, blushed, and stared at me with something akin to both embarrassment and happiness.

I blinked. Why was she looking at me like that? Was it something I said? I tried to think back, but my head hurt and that made it a little difficult to do…

Oh.

Now _I_ was in embarrassed panic mode. "E-Er, sorry, I didn't mean to call you 'mom,' it just kinda slipped out because you sounded like my mother whenever I was sick back home. Which was actually a lot, really, due to having bad allergies. I would be sick a lot here too, but we got me an allergy steroid shot thing that strengthened my immune system against my allergies so I wouldn't feel the effects of them so often, and i-i-it just kinda slipped out!"

The rotund, green-haired woman who'd been so kind as to host me in her home shook her head reassuringly, smiling softly. "No, it's… it's kind of nice, actually," she said awkwardly. "It's been eight months, after all, and you've been so great. If you feel comfortable with calling me 'mom' now, that would… make me happy."

"Oh, er, okay," I coughed.

Izukkun came running in the kitchen, and he blinked before freaking out and pointing at the stove. "Aaaaagh!" he cried. "There's smoke!"

"Smoke?" Inko turned… and stared. "AAAGH! I'M BURNING THE EGGS! I'M SO SORRY, BOYS! I'M SO SORRY!"

"Oh, no, Mom, it's alright!" Izukkun gasped, dancing about in concern and unsure of how to help. "I-I-It's perfectly okay, w-we just have to hurry and t-turn off the stove!"

I sweatdropped and sneezed as they raced around the kitchen and tried to deal with the burnt food in their panic. I shook my head fondly. This family…

After that whole fiasco, Inko re-made breakfast, Izukkun and I wolfed it down, I snagged a few tissues from the tissue box, and lastly we got our backpacks and headed out the door. We took the same path as yesterday to school, hopping on the same train line and then rushing to U.A. The sun was warm today and the air was fresh and cool, a perfect combination. Izukkun offered to go to the nurse's office with me when we arrived, but I shook my head and told him to hurry to class. Then I took a quick detour to Recovery Girl before following suit.

As it turned out, Recovery Girl's Quirk worked wonders for colds, too, although it left me exhausted for the morning classes. I ended up sleeping through most of them, which certainly didn't earn me any points with Present Mic. Getting over my cold super early was 100% worth it, though. Lunch rolled around and my energy started to return as I ate. Just like the previous day, Kirishima, Kaminari, Sero, Jirou, Shinsou and I sat at the same table.

"Man, you should've been there at Amazarashi's concert last night, Shinsou!" Kaminari whined, pouting at my droopy-eyed friend. "I bet you would've had a lot of fun."

Shinsou rolled his eyes. "Sure," he said sarcastically.

"You would've," I told him in a no-uncertain-terms tone. "We had a blast. Kaminari sang himself raw, Sero almost accidentally kissed a girl, Jirou smiled without joking about someone—"

"You apparently got a cold," Jirou cut in, smirking at me. "I bet that's why you were passed out in class this morning, huh?"

I jabbed my thumb at her smirk. "Case in point."

"You're an idiot," she told me.

"You're going to be saying that to me a lot in the coming year, aren't you?"

"Yes."

Kirishima snickered. "No, but seriously, it was a lot of fun." The boy with the brightest goddamn smile in the whole class gave us all a thumbs-up. "You guys were pretty great to party with. We should definitely all hang out again sometime."

"Definitely," Kaminari said. He nodded as he sipped his water. "Where should we go next?"

That left us all blank for ideas. We mulled over this for a time and continued to eat our lunch, until Sero suggested, "How about we just wait to see what's coming up? There might be some interesting event that we all like. Hell, we could even get the whole class to go depending on what it is."

"Fair 'nuff," I decided.

Jirou said, "I'm cool with that." She twirled her earphone jack around her pointer finger and glanced over at Kaminari. "You got any ideas, Sparky?"

"Sparky?" Kaminari hung his head as if he was hurt. "Awww, that bites, Jirou. Hmm, well, I can't think of anything, so I guess not."

"What if we all went to the pool?" Kirishima suggested out of the blue. We looked at him, blinking, and he grinned widely, showing off his very white, sharp teeth. "I bet that's something everybody would love."

Jirou frowned at Kaminari, whose face had suddenly been overtaken by a slight leer in her direction. "If you even think about what I think you're thinking about, I _will_ find your house and blast my heartbeats into your bedroom window to keep you from getting a good night's sleep," she warned.

He stiffened, and I snickered. "That'd be funny to see," I quipped, and he threw me a disheartened look.

"Traitor!" he cried.

"Don't worry, man, I'll always help you out!" a slightly nasally, high-pitched guy's voice said from behind me, and I looked over my shoulder to see a very short boy walking by while carrying an empty lunch tray to the trash. My eyes fell on his head and happened to see purple balls and a _very_ disturbing leer…

Before I quite knew what I was doing, I stuck out my hand and said, "White Out!" and immediately, a cloud of smoke billowed into Mineta Minoru's mouth.

"AHH!" he hacked and coughed, scrambling away from us. "IT BURNS!"

My eye twitched as I drew my smoke back and into my now-transparent arm before I ended up accidentally going too far and making him pass out from smoke inhalation. I had no idea what amount of smoke could do that, but I did not want to take any chance, not even with Mineta.

Jirou's eye looked like it was twitching just as much. "Thanks, Evan," she said, glowering at the little crying perv's back like he was pond scum. "Who was that, anyway?"

"I don't know," Shinsou grunted, "and I don't care."

I shrugged. "Same here," I lied.

So Mineta had made it into U.A., anyway, eh? Real shame, that. I guess that meant he'd been shifted down to either Class 1-B or General Studies. Either way, I really hoped I wouldn't have to see much of him around, because if I caught him trying to mess with the girls, I wasn't sure I wouldn't be able to keep myself from punting him across the room.

Well, I mean, I wasn't even close to being strong enough to actually do that, but you get the picture.

After that, the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch, which meant that the main attraction of the day was finally here—All Might's class! Everyone was in the classroom in record time, an excited, silent buzz in the air as everyone waited eagerly for the arrival of the Number One hero in the entire country.

"I can't believe we're going to be taught by All Might!" Izuku muttered under his breath, his eyes practically shining as he looked at the door with anticipation. I sweatdropped.

 _Weren't you just his pupil for nine months?_ I deadpanned in my thoughts, shaking my head in amusement.

"Yeah, that's pretty awesome!" I agreed aloud with a smile. "I can't wait to see what kind of teacher he is."

Several seats away from me, Tsu glanced at me with a froggy frown and placed a thoughtful finger on her chin. "I say whatever comes to my mind," she said, tilting her head. Her long, green hair fell down her back in straight lines, accentuating her rounded face in a way that made her feel cute and innocent. "Evan, was it?" I nodded, and she continued. "My name's Asui Tsuyu, but you can call me Tsu. Evan, you said that like you already know how All Might teaches. And when you arrived in the classroom yesterday, you seemed to recognize all of us."

I stiffened and gave an awkward laugh. "Ah, heh, is that so?" I said, rubbing the back of my head with a sweatdrop. _Damn how observational you are, Tsu_.

Tokoyami, the bird-headed badass, raised an eyebrow at her. "He couldn't have known us. Most of us met for the first time in this classroom."

 _Thank you, Tokoyami,_ I thought gratefully, letting out a little breath of relief.

Tsu shrugged, her red tie scrunching up a little as she did so. "That's what I saw," she said matter-of-factly, and before anyone could say anything else, loud shouting echoed down the hallway outside.

"I AM HERE…!"

Everyone's eyes widened and we turned to the door eagerly. It burst open to reveal All Might in his red-and-yellow themed suit, flowing cape and all. He slid in dramatically, threw out his arms, and declared, "...COMING THROUGH THE DOOR LIKE A NORMAL PERSON!"

"Pfft!" I choked, clapping a hand over my mouth to stop myself from exploding into an endless wave of giggles. That was so _not_ how a normal person comes through the door.

Oo's and ahh's filled the room as the other students admired him.

"Woah!" Kirishima gasped. "He's really here in the flesh!"

Tsu's eyes widened. "That costume is so silver age!"

"The art style clashes so much, it's giving me goosebumps," said Aoyama, the constantly self-obsessed, blond French… ( _maybe?_ )... kid breathed.

"All Might," Shinsou gasped, leaning forward and placing his hands on his desk.

"Welcome to your first Foundational Hero Studies class, young students!" All Might boomed, ignoring our comments completely. He marched like a stage performer from the still-open door to the teacher's podium that sat in front of the blackboard. "For this class, we'll be building up your hero foundation through various trials! You'll get _tons_ of credit for it! Now, we've no time to waste, so let's jump right in… To the Combat Trial!"

"Combat Trial!" Bakugou smirked widely and cracked his knuckles, sneering at Izukkun over his shoulder. My host brother sweated nervously before swallowing and returning his gaze evenly. Bakugou stiffened, surprised, and the pale blond's smirk turned into a huff and a glare as he swiveled back to look at All Might, who was continuing to talk. Now it was my turn to smirk; Izukkun had been growing less and less afraid and meek around Bakugou since my intervention.

"And to go with this first battle," All Might was saying, "we've prepared the gear we had you send requests in for to match your Quirks!"

I grinned widely. Now _that_ got me all fired up! As the cabinets hidden inside the leftmost wall began to slide out one by one, which contained our costumes, both excitement and nervousness bubbled up in my gut; excitement because I was finally going to be able to wear my hero costume—how cool was that?—and nervousness because I was going to enter my first real battle of my hero career. I mean, sure, I'd been fighting Gunhead and his sidekicks for a while before entering U.A., but that was for a martial arts class. This was different. This was a fight that actually meant something.

I swallowed, unsure if I was more eager to get it over with or frightened to fight kids with superpowers more powerful than mine.

I just _really_ hoped I didn't get stuck fighting against Bakugou. Or should I say, _Baka_ gou?

Sorry, sorry, I get punny when I'm nervous.

"Alright!" Kaminari whooped, leaping to his feet and pumping his fist. "I can't wait to get into my costume!"

Mina bounced excitedly from foot to foot. "Ooo, we're all gonna look like badasses!" she cheered, a wide grin stretching across her pink face.

All Might frog-marched over to the cabinets and reached into the drawers labeled 1-20, representative of our different class numbers. "Catch!" he said, taking out our costume packages and throwing them to us one by one. I fumbled a bit with mine, only barely keeping it from falling onto the floor, and I hung my head. Dammit, I needed to get better hand-eye coordination.

"Can't even catch a damn package properly, nerd," Bakugou sneered at me, unzipping his own package and peering inside with a maniacal grin.

I scowled at him. "Yeah, and you can't even calm down properly," I retorted. He flinched and glared at me savagely, and I shrugged. "See?"

"Oi! Say that again, bastard!"

Tokoyami sighed as All Might threw another costume bag. "Don't start fighting and make this classroom louder than it needs to be," he said.

Once we all had our costumes, All Might stood tall and placed his hands on his hips, glowing with pride for us. "Alright, young boys and girls! Get changed and we'll be ready to go! Everyone gather at Ground Beta! The garb you bring into the battlefield is vitally important!" As we all grinned widely, he gave us a thumbs-up and added, "And don't forget! From here on out, you're all officially heroes!"

"I'm a hero," I said quietly, staring at my package. It felt so amazing to be able to say that… I still wasn't sure why I'd been mistaken for Lucifer and dropped here, but it had given me the chance of a lifetime. Now I had to suck up my nervousness and deal with my first Foundational Hero Studies class.

~o~

I'd had no idea what I wanted for my hero costume.

There was a good reason for this. My Quirk wasn't exactly one that could be augmented well by clothing, not unless I wanted to wear, like, _nothing_. Which clearly was _not_ an option. I ended up going for design over function because… well, there wasn't really much I _could_ do in the way of function without ending up freezing my ass off come winter. So, yeah, design. One problem cropped up from that though.

I _sucked_ at outfit designing.

One thing I was sure of was _NO CAPES_ , because I'd seen The Incredibles. I knew better. Other than that, I had no idea how to make myself look hero-y. Is… is that even a word? Dunno, don't care. So because I had no idea how to make myself look hero-y, I ended up looking… well, more like an average, everyday civilian with a mask and a Batman-ish belt.

I walked out the tunnel and onto the asphalt of Ground Beta, frowning enviously at the rest of the students' incredible hero costumes. Compared to them, I looked really kinda stupid. I had only a brown, lightweight jacket in the style of a bomber's jacket, but not nearly as insulated as one of those would be; and a periwinkle T-shirt with a black hexagon in its center, which I would later put a logo in when I decided my hero name. I had some brown shoes with retractable spikes in the bottom, for more traction whenever I happened to come across slippery surfaces. I also wore a blue belt with several different canisters affixed to it, which held some special chemicals to give me some extra smoke when I mixed them together. And last but not least, I'd strapped across my eyes a pair of simple-but-effective goggles with triangular straps and triangular lenses which emulated the look of old superhero face masks, and were also infrared.

This was the only real form of function I'd added. If I covered the whole place in smoke, I'd be just as blind to my opponent's location as they'd be blind to mine, and so the infrared goggles helped tip the scales in my favor.

"Nice!" All Might gave us a thumbs-up as we all strolled, with various levels of confidence, up to him. "You all look amazing!"

Jirou, walking beside me, glanced over at me and snickered. "What are you trying to be, Office Man Vigilante?"

"Shut up, Jirou," I pouted, hanging my head in defeat. "Just because you look like a badass rocker doesn't give you the right to call my costume normal."

"It is, though," Aoyama drawled from behind me, flipping his red cape with a flourish.

" _Not_ helping!" I barked.

Tooru happened to be on my other side, which I only knew because of the floating gloves and empty shoes that pumped in a walking motion. Her left hand bobbed up and down in a manner I assumed might be excited? It was hard to tell since I couldn't see her expression. "I think a down-to-earth, plain look is good too, though!" she exclaimed. "You know, just like a normal guy!"

I winced-smiled, unsure of whether she was complimenting me or insulting. It could've been either/or, really.

"I guess the Midoriya brothers both like rather average designs, huh?" Ojiro, looking like the main character of a martial arts film, observed from Hagakure's right, making me hang my head even more. He motioned to Izukkun's green tracksuit with the plastic protrusions coming up diagonally and behind his head cover, like All Might's hair.

"Curse my lack of taste in clothes!" I cried to the sky, causing Hagakure to giggle and Tokoyami to shush us.

"Sensei!" Iida said at last, raising his hand and drawing attention away from my plain-looking costume. "Regarding the Battle Trial, is it going to be in the Mock City from the Entrance Exam?" He wore a clunky suit of white armor that looked like it wasn't metallic, but instead made from some kind of plasticy material. Two faux engines hung off his back, adding to the theme of his Engine Quirk.

All Might, who stood in front of a tall cement building, grinned widely and blindingly. His teeth were white as hell, man. "You'll see! Take two steps, and you'll be there! This will be an indoor battle trial!" He explained how statistically, more villains appeared indoors, and so this class would be a mock indoor battle of heroes vs villains, with the class split into groups of two and facing off against each other.

"So how will we decide who wins and loses?" Momo asked, raising her hand.

Bakugou smirked thinly. "Is it okay if we just blow our opponents away?" he said, looking pointedly at first Izukkun and then me.

"Will there be any punishments for losing?" Ochako worried, probably remembering Aizawa.

"Isn't this cape glamorous?" Aoyama asked with a sparkle.

Jirou chuckled and pointed to me, a playful smirk on her lips. "Doesn't that costume look like civilian clothes?"

All Might blinked rapidly as all the questions blasted at him. "I can't hear you all if you speak at once!"

After we were told about what kind of match it would be—for those of you not in the know, the villain team in each match would have to guard a fake nuclear bomb the whole time or capture both members of the hero team, while the hero team would have to either touch the nuke or capture both members of the villain team—All Might drew slips of paper with our names on them out of boxes to randomly choose teams. As it turned out, Jirou and I got paired together, which I didn't really mind. She was smart and could gather a lot of info, plus was pretty good offense. On the other hand, I had my smoke form and my smoke-producing chemicals, so I brought both offense and intangibility to the table. We'd make a good team, depending on who we were matched against…

Unfortunately, when All Might pulled balls with letters representing our various teams out of two more boxes, we were matched against probably the worst pair for our Quirks that we could've been.

"Kaminari and the creation girl," Jirou bit out, her eye twitching as she stared at the two in question. "Dammit, this is going to be tough."

I squeezed my hand into a fist and swallowed. "Yeah. Their Quirks are probably the most well-suited against ours in the class." I dropped my voice down to a whisper, so the blond with the black streak in his air and the ponytailed, skimpily clad girl he was partnered with couldn't hear. "Momo could probably make earplugs so that your Earphone Jack Quirk won't work unless you're close enough to plug them in directly to them. And Kaminari can attack us long range with his electricity… I won't be able to turn my entire body intangible without my clothes falling off, so he'll still be able to get me."

"We don't have it as bad as your brother and the Infinity Girl do, though," Jirou observed slightly nervously, jabbing her thumb at Izukkun and Uraraka. Uraraka looked a little nervous but also eager, and Izukkun looked… fired up, actually. "Bakugou and Iida are going to be a tough team to beat, Bakugou in particular. That Explosion Quirk looks like it'd be nasty to fight against."

I winced. "Yeah, not fun," I agreed, nervous for their match. I did not want to see my host brother all beat up like he'd gotten in canon. I frowned and stepped over to them. "I'll be back in a sec."

"You do you," Jirou said. She shrugged uncaringly.

"Oi, Izukkun," I said as I drew up to him. He turned his freckly face to me with a blink, and I clapped a hand on his surprisingly firm back. It accidentally knocked him forward a bit, but he reaffirmed his footing and looked up at me.

"What is it?" the green-haired shorty asked.

I pointed to his arms. "You got any idea what to do about those?"

"E-Er, no, I… uh… What do you mean?"

"Your Quirk breaks whatever you use it with, huh?" I pretended to observe. "You said you broke your arm and legs in the Entrance Exam, and then just yesterday you broke your pointer finger using it. It's gonna be nigh impossible to face off against Bakugou without getting exploded, but using your Quirk is bad news in and of itself. Am I right?"

"Y… Yeah…" Izukkun admitted, looking down at the asphalt on which we stood.

I hummed. "So then, you need a way to not break your bones whenever you use it, or else you're gonna get beat up this match either way. Do you have any image of how to use your Quirk?"

Izukkun perked up. "Um, All—" He winced, looked towards the Number One hero, flinched, and back to me. "I was brain… brainstorming last night, and, uh, I t-think I should be able to u-use about 5% without hurting myself. If I i-imagine it like an egg in a m-microwave… maybe it'll help?"

I hummed. "Maybe. So you're going for enough heat to cook the egg, but not break it, am I right?"

He nodded, green hair swaying with the slightly cool breeze.

"Try thinking about it as a turntable microwave, then," I suggested. "Because turntables work a bit differently than the one in our apartment. Turntable microwaves work by spinning a plate to heat up all sides evenly. Now, I say this because the way I see it, you're restricting your power too much. I think the reason your bones are blowing out is because you have too much power in one part of your body, and your arm or your finger alone just can't handle it."

Izukkun's emerald eyes widened, and he gasped suddenly. "Oh! B-But if I spread out the power more evenly, you think it'll be easier to wield?"

"Yeah!" I confirmed. "You got it without me even having to explain it to you. Still try to only get the power up to that 5% you mentioned, though; if your 100% is what apparently took out the robot in your Exam, I'd hate to see what that could do to a person."

"E-Er, right. Thanks, Evan. I'll t-try that out…"

I sighed a small sigh of relief. "Okay, great!" I raised up my fist for a fist bump, and after a moment's hesitation, the ninth wielder of One For All accepted it. "And hey, knock 'em dead!"

"What did you and your brother talk about?" Jirou asked, semi-curiously, when I returned. With her sly grin, though, I wasn't sure whether she was actually interested. "Nerd stuff?"

"Ouch, that hurt, Jirou," I whined with a pout. "No, nothing important, really. Besides, you're a rock music nerd, so you have no room to talk."

"I am not," she denied, rolling her eyes."I just like it. That doesn't make me a nerd."

I gave her a flat look. "Last night while you were going to the bathroom, Kaminari told us that you named the puppy your parents got you for Christmas once, 'Freddie,' and your cat 'Mercury.'"

Was that a faint blush on her cheeks? It _was_ a faint blush on her cheeks. Fascinating! I wondered whether this should be declared an eighth Wonder of the World. "Damn that brain-fried moron," she hissed, pointedly glaring anywhere but in my direction. "I _knew_ I shouldn't have told them that when we were kids…"

I, of course, being a certified graduate Asshole, fell into a fit of snickers at her expense. I got a backfist to my stomach for my troubles, but decided it was worth it In the back of my mind, I filed "Jirou's Blush" under the Cute cabinet.

"Do you and Young Jirou have anything you'd like to share with the rest of the class, Young Evan?" All Might asked, looking at me with that huge, pearly white grin of his.

Jirou _glared_ at me. "Don't. You. Dare," she snarled under her breath so the rest of the class, whose full attention was now on us, wouldn't hear.

"Nah, sorry, Sensei," I said. Jirou slumped in relief. I bowed respectfully towards our teacher. "My apologies. Go ahead."

He hummed and nodded. "Thank you for thoughtfully quieting down! Now then, since all teams and matches have now been picked, we must enter the building behind me! Why, you ask? Because the long… or rather, short-awaited battle of heroes and villains… is here! Let's see what you're made of, you zygotes."


	6. The Courage to Fight

Chapter 6: The Courage to Fight

Izuku swallowed as he stared at the map of the building he held in his hands. Waiting for All Might's orders alongside him, Ochako practically bounced on the asphalt outside the tall cement tower of a building. He still didn't feel quite prepared, but he had to steel himself for the fight ahead. A cool breeze, welcome due to the warmth of the sun, rushed across the city. Izuku clenched his fists. He could do this. He could _win_.

Ochako turned to him and grinned. "It's really cool that your brother was trying to help you with your power!" she said, giving him a thumbs-up. "He seems really supportive!"

The green-haired boy chuckled awkwardly. A light blush crept up his cheeks at the thought of being on the same team as his new friend. "Yeah, he is. He's helped me out a lot. I never thought about looking at it from the perspective of a turntable microwave…"

"Well, I hope it works out!" she said, pumping her fists and giving him a huge smile. "That strength of yours is seriously cool… like the old superhero comics or something!" Her brown hair bounced as she punched the sky repeatedly. "Like, pow! Pow!"

His cheeks grew increasingly warmer. "Thanks. I just hope I can control it..."

He readjusted the "teeth" of his superhero costume, which really was just a green jumpsuit with two plastic prongs sticking out of the top to resemble All Might's classic hair. Due to the way both Evan and All Might had reacted to him when they first saw it, he was afraid that the costume might be _too_ recognizable. He made a mental note to request some tweaks in its design after the day was up, even though his mother had handmade it for him and everything. He also wondered if he shouldn't ask to have a darker shade of green; it was more of a mintier color than his hair and thus, didn't exactly match his tastes in that regard.

A couple moments of silence passed.

"That Bakugou guy picks on you a lot, huh." That wasn't as much of a question from Ochako as it was a statement. She looked directly at him, and Izuku felt strangely gravitated to her eyes. They were deep and warm, full of caring and understanding in a way that he'd never really felt before except from his mother and Evan. Their brownness only made them warmer and softer, more homely. "I know you'll win, Deku!"

The current owner of One For All blinked, stunned for a moment. Then the last remaining nerves fled his system. A semi-confident smile spread up his lips, and his emerald eyes set straight towards the door of the large building, cement and grey, that pierced the sky before them. "We both will," he said, his voice a little less shaky than it had been before. "We're a team, after all."

... _Oh his gosh, he was on a team with a_ GIRL!

Izuku's knees suddenly felt like they were about to turn to noodles and his insides into unrecognizable mush, but the universe decided to deny the boy the time to do so. All Might announced over the speakers set up throughout the test area. "Now, let's start the indoor person-to-person combat training with Team A and Team D!" he exclaimed. "Begin!"

"Let's not waste any time, then, Uraraka!" Izuku decided. He took off on a sprint, his red soles slamming against the pavement as he raced to the side of the building. "Although I doubt Iida and Bakugou would go for a plan like this, they could be waiting for us at the front entrance, so let's enter through a window."

The cute girl who was somehow his teammate nodded and followed in hot pursuit. "Sounds like a plan to me!" she agreed.

And so began the first match of the day.

~o~

Down below the combat training building, I kept a close and careful eye on the screen. I bit my lip as I watched Izuku swing his leg up and over the windowsill he'd chosen to enter through, then turn and help Uraraka over it, too. I stood beside Kyouka, who twirled her finger around her earphone jack's cord in boredom. Over near the center of the group, close to All Might, redheaded Kirishima clearly could not wait for the action to start. He wore a wide, toothy grin and watched the screen eagerly as Bakugou seemed to argue with Iida over something.

Surprisingly, the blond kid seemed a lot less angry than I'd imagined him being, and when he left the room with the bomb, it wasn't with a furious stomping, but rather with a more punkish, hands-in-his-pockets stride. Poor Iida blinked rapidly as his slammed the door to the bomb room on him, and immediately swung his arms robotically at the door. His mouth moved, and although I couldn't hear what he was saying over the recording, I could imagine it was a lot of annoyance over Bakugou choosing to split up the team. Working separately while the other team was working together made for a bit of a careless decision, after all. But that just showed how amazingly confident Bakugou was in his own unquestionably skilled fighting ability.

He wasn't just overconfident, though… he definitely had the power of a pro.

"That Bakugou guy's on the move," the tall and beefy, yellow, skin-tight suit wearing Sato observed as Bakugou pushed through the building's dark hallways. "Think Midoriya and Uraraka are going to be okay?"

"He grabbed first place on the Entrance Exam with only villain points," Tokoyami recalled. He and his dark head plumage, as well as his black costume, blended in well with the dimly lit observation room. The only thing that ruined it for him was his yellow bird's beak. "His raw combat ability is remarkable."

"That Midoriya's punch packs a real punch, though," Yuga said with a strange smile at the screen, sparkling even through his armor. Somehow, without there being any wind down here underground nor a fan turned on, his cape still fluttered. I swore up and down that he was either secretly a JoJo or a Twilight vampire. Perhaps both.

Kyouka stared flatly at him, her triangular eyes decidedly unimpressed. "Please never try to make a pun again. You're really, really bad at it."

The flamboyant blond deflated and reeled back, clutching his chest as though physically wounded.

Someone snickered. I think it was Kaminari.

"Yeah, leave the _pun_ ishment up to me," I agreed smugly, jabbing my thumb at myself and grinning. Multiple groans rumbled from the students' throats, and as we waited for the action to start happening, we continued to talk lightly.

All the while, Izuku and Ochako drew ever closer to Bakugou, who had now made his way down to their floor. A sinking feeling rose in my gut and my hands clenched tighter. They were now only a cross-section in a corridor away from each other. The explosion blaster may have been blindly searching, but he had pretty good luck. And then, before I was quite ready for it, there around the nearest corner to Izuku appeared a wild Bakugou, shouting something upon spotting Izuku that I couldn't hear from the other side of the screen. He dashed forward and leaped into the air. His arm cranked back, his fingers spread apart wide, and he slammed his palm forward.

 _BOOM._

It wasn't that loud, but I definitely hard that explosion from down here.

"He doesn't hold back, does he?" frog-girl Tsuyu noted, scratching at the side of her lip. Her green hair bounced as she stood up to full height from her previous stance, which had been a frog-like squat.

My fists clenched as smoke filled the screen, blocking our view of the fight happening in the building. Even though I knew Bakugou wasn't the kind of insane person to injure Izuku to the point of the battle ending, the kid was still my host brother. I couldn't help but worry about him facing his friend-turned-bully, especially since I knew how the fight would end up canonically—one Quirk-smashed arm and the other burnt by a huge explosion. I didn't want to see Izuku injured like that in real life; that had been why I'd dropped him the hint to how to use Full Cowl.

"Looks like they both dodged," Momo told us, her bangs falling over her eye as she pointed to another camera on the screen. It showed a different, lengthwise view of the same hallway, and it also showed Izuku and Ochako picking themselves up off the hard floor a good distance away from the explosion. Half of my host brother's mask had been burnt off, but his face looked no worse for the wear. Thank God for small miracles.

Sero hummed. "That was an impressive dodge. Bakugou sure looked fast."

"He is fast," I confirmed, remembering the few times I'd seen Bakugou practicing his moves during break. "He moves like a pro fighter. You really do not want to be on the other end of those gauntlets, believe it."

"He's kinda hot when he fights, isn't he?" the happy, carefree Tooru chirped. "He's more ripped than I thought he'd be. Shame he's got such a scary face…"

Although we in the observation room couldn't see it past the clearing cloud of black smoke, Bakugou sneezed. Inwardly, he made a mental note to "kick the snot out of his fucking germs, damn them!" once the training match ended.

Once the smoke cleared, Bakugou straightened up and shouted something to Izuku. Izuku glared back defiantly. He shifted in front of Ochako and held up his arm between his partner and opponent. His lips moved, and although I hadn't yet gotten used to lip reading in Japanese, I assumed he was telling the worried brunette to go on ahead and to leave him to the boy with the turtle shell-looking gauntlets. Ochako hesitated before nodding and running off down the corridor that Bakugou had just come from.

Izuku took a deep breath and fell back into the fighting stance I'd showed him. He closed his eyes. Red power lit up the veins in his arms, and his body trembled. Bakugou narrowed his eyes.

 _That's not green lightning,_ I noticed, frowning, _and it's only in his arms. He's not gotten the hang of it. Why not? Maybe because as of right now, he hasn't yet experienced what 5% of his power feels like?_ _Or just because he's only used his power twice before?_ Either way, Izuku clearly had realized this himself, because while he'd been about to take off and leap at his opponent, he suddenly hesitated and looked down with terrified concern at his arms, then at Bakugou. The red light shut off completely.

Ojiro leaned forward, his tail flicking worriedly. "He's not using his power?" the young man asked. He had a surprisingly square jawline, and his blond hair was parted to the right much like my own. His white gi had a little water patch on the back due to sweat, which had probably been a result of us previously standing out in the afternoon heat. "Is he going to be alright?"

"With that kind of explosive power, he might get hurt if he doesn't do something," Shinsou agreed, frowning. "Being blessed with a Quirk as strong as his… Why isn't that kid more proactive? Does he think he's better than us or something?" He sighed and ran his hand through his purple, spiky hair. "He's not going to get far without using it."

I bit my lip. Shinsou really had a good point, even if he was very likely misunderstanding why my host brother wasn't using his power.

All Might briefly looked over his insanely broad shoulder and flashed the martial artist a smile that managed to be blinding even in the dimly lit room. "Not to worry, Young Ojiro and Young Shinsou!" he reassured my classmate. "As I mentioned earlier, if it looks as though Young Midoriya will be in any real danger, I'll end the match. In the event that this should happen, it will be considered a draw."

I quirked a bushy eyebrow up. That made sense, though I wondered how the points would be distributed in a case like that. Based on Momo's interested gaze at All Might, I could tell she wondered the same thing. Neither of us had a chance to ask, though, since just then Shoji pointed up to the screen with multiple created hands.

"Bakugou's on the move, and he looks pissed!" Shoji announced. I swiveled back up to watch the fight.

Sure enough, a very obviously snarling Bakugou charged full speed towards Izuku. Izuku flinched momentarily before reaffirming his stance. The explosive blond's right fist cranked back for another swing, but upon powering towards my host brother's face, he caught Bakugou's arm in a tight grip and threw the surprised boy over his shoulder. For a moment, Bakugou lay there, stunned, while Izuku shouted something semi-confidently. Whatever he said just pissed his opponent off all the more.

Bakugou scrambled to his feet and made to swipe Izuku's legs out from under him. The green haired young man jumped over this, however, and reached into a pocket at the waist of his green tracksuit. When Bakugou's left arm came swiping forward in a wide, crazy circle, Izuku quickly stepped out of range. He pulled out a roll of the capture tape that All Might had supplied us all with as a means of taking out the other side. Then, as one gauntlet-covered arm swooshed through the air, Izuku lifted the tape up in its path and began to close the strip down around Bakugou's wrist.

"Whoa!" Kaminari gasped, impressed. "Midoriya's like a pro martial artist! He threw the strongest kid in the class around like it was nothing!"

Ojiro shrugged. "Throws actually aren't that hard to do," he said. "All you have to do is use your opponent's momentum against them. If you can get it right, it doesn't even really matter how tall you are or how much muscle you have."

"Learning the movements for each throw and which muscles to use is the hard part, though," I added. I rubbed my head awkwardly as I remembered many a failed attempt at throwing Gunhead's sidekicks. It had taken me about a month and a week to actually consistently succeed in that same shoulder toss Izuku had just performed pretty much flawlessly. Beginner's luck on his part, maybe?

"That may be, but he's really good at dodging too, don't you think!?" a very chipper and _very_ pink Mina Ashido gasped, bouncing in excitement like an ADD kid hyped up on twenty packets of Nerds. How do I know what that's like, you ask? I know from personal experience, oh, reader-mine.

I gave her a complete deadpan stare. Why was she focused on his dodging? Mina was an adorable, hyper alien-looking girl, but she was definitely a bit on the cooky side. Shaking my head in confused amusement, I turned back to the screen.

Bakugou blasted his arm back and knocked himself into the wall to escape being captured. He growled something out and fired off a small explosion at Izuku, but my short host brother backpedaled fearfully away from it. Black smoke filled the screen, and some worried muttering rumbled up from my classmates. I frowned deeply and clenched my hand into a fist. A few seconds later, however, I let out a deep breath as another recording window showed Izuku. Coughing, stumbling, he scurried away from the cloud of smoke once again swirling around Bakugou.

"Alright, he made it away!" I burst out as he scuttled down the hall and delved into the darkness, getting distance to think out a plan. "Go, Izukkun!" Several of my classmates stared at me with small smirks, and I blinked, then rubbed the back of my head and felt my cheeks heat up a little.

"It's cute how much you worry over your younger brother," Kyouka snickered.

"And that nickname is really cute, too!" Toru chimed in. My purple-headed, short haired rocker friend cracked up even harder.

Sero smirked and shrugged. "It _is_ pretty endearing," he agreed, amused.

"Kinda like that thing Midoriya calls Bakugou…" Kirishima tilted his sharply edged head in thought. "What is it…?"

Tsuyu ribbited. "Kero. Kacchan, you mean?"

The redhead snapped his fingers and grinned a toothy grin. "Yeah, that's the one!"

A chorus of _oh_ 's rose up in the room as everyone pondered this.

"You're right, it _is_ similar," Mina gasped, her dark eyes widening at me. A wide grin slowly spread up the pink-toned heroine-in-training's face. "Aww, that's _really_ cute!"

Shinsou harrumphed. "You guys are too loud," he grumbled, although it was so quiet that no one quite heard him.

"Maybe he got the idea off of Midoriya's nickname for Bakugou," Shoji mused, and while this was actually untrue, I suddenly felt like that was exactly how the original creator of the nickname came up with it.

My face was even pinker than hers now. I quickly looked at the screen again and pointedly ignored them. Meanwhile, Kyouka's snickers intensified; she no doubt very much enjoyed seeing me so awkward after I'd teased her about being a nerd. I supposed I kinda deserved it, but hey, did she honestly expect me _not_ to tease her? This is _me_ we're talking about here.

While the other students had had their good fun at my expense, Izuku had continued to hide from Bakugou. Whenever the constantly pissed-off blond dude had gotten too close, Izuku took it upon himself to move a couple hallways over. I noticed that any spare time he had, my brother tried to activate Full Cowl; but he'd not yet gotten the hang of it. I frowned. It was likely that he'd never figure out how to actually do it until he tried to punch someone with an empowered fist.

In other words, he was still in the same position as he'd been in canon. With the exception of Bakugou being not quite as angry due to knowing that Izuku hadn't tricked him.

Still, shit. I _really_ did not want to see his arms all messed the fuck up. The more damage I could spare him from, the better his future would be. Or at least, that was my logic. Maybe I was just selfish and wanted to protect the adorably innocent boy who'd become my family.

 _BOOM!_ Bakugou blasted through several walls at once, evidently having enough of his and Izuku's little game of hide and seek. Unfortunately for Izuku, he ended up being dangerously close to the blast line. When the smoke cleared, he was right next to the path Bakugou had opened up. He hightailed it away, but the taller boy must've heard him even from several corridors away, because he leaped into the air, flung his arms back, and used several miniature explosions to propel himself forward. He landed smoothly and used the resulting momentum to turn towards where Izuku was now running desperately.

Bakugou lifted his hand up in the air and clenched it into a fist.

The building rumbled with the force of another explosion. The floor beneath us shook like a very small earthquake had rocked it. Kaminari cursed as Rikido, the young man in the yellow full-body suit and who had surprisingly big lips, accidentally stepped on his foot.

Izuku leaped to the side and rolled to dodge the blast, but it wasn't actually on his path. I got the feeling that was a warning shot; run any farther, and the next one would be on target.

It looked like a confrontation between them really was unavoidable.

I bit my lip.

Come on, Izukkun, come on…

~o~

 _Come on, come on_ , gulped Izuku as he slowly turned to face his friend-turned-rival head on. It was the first time they'd ever actually stared each other down as somewhat-equals in combat. All other times had either been another case of Kacchan scoffing at him, that time in the playground when he'd tried to protect the kid his friend had been picking on, or something along those lines.

Nerves pooled in his chest, and he felt his body rush with adrenaline. He wasn't nervous about being attacked by Kacchan… No. He was nervous about attacking _back_.

He couldn't control his power. He couldn't keep it at five percent, much less spread it safely throughout his limbs and core without feeling like his blood was boiling. He needed more time to test it out, more time to discover the right percentage of output.

Unfortunately, no time remained.

"Nice Quirk ya got there, _Deku_ ," Kacchan sneered. He stalked down the hallway, red eyes awesomely intimidating as they glared at him. Izuku had always been jealous of those eyes; they'd be able to make any weak-hearted criminal quiver in their shoes. He'd always had too soft, too warm of a gaze to be able to pull something like that. "I saw the power you outputted into that softball yesterday. I heard that you took out the zero-point villain in the Entrance Exam in a single punch. Tell me…" Kacchan's red eyes narrowed, and he bent over and spat out several very small explosions from each of his ten gloved fingers. "WHAT KIND OF COWARD ARE YOU, TO NOT USE IT HERE!? DON'T YOU _WANT_ TO BE A HERO!?"

Izuku's fists trembled. A wave of annoyance swept over him, and he stomped on the floor and shouted, " _OF COURSE I DO, YOU IDIOT!_ Why do you always shout at me!? This is why we can never have a proper conversation!"

"Because you'll always be a powerless hero wannabe unless you grow a fucking spine and fucking fight, jackass!" Kacchan roared. "I can't _stand_ people like you who are all bark and no bite! If you can't do that much, then leave this fucking school! You don't deserve to be here! You're just playing pretend!"

Izuku stiffened and clenched his fists. Kacchan… had a point. He couldn't _not_ use his power. Not here in U.A. He was scared to punch someone with a fist powered up by One For All, but he really had no choice. He was going to have to do so eventually, and he'd be kidding himself if he thought otherwise. The short boy's hands trembled, his gloves wrinkling a little. But what if he messed up? What if he couldn't control the power? The freckled hero student shook as he remembered the zero point robot, a huge crater of a dent Smashed into its head..

If… if he couldn't control it to five percent, then, Kacchan… Kacchan would be…

"DIE, DEKUUUUU!" Kacchan suddenly shouted, and the taller, red-eyed boy suddenly soared through the air. He'd been launched by two more signature explosions, one from each hand fired backwards. And he was coming _fast_. Izuku stiffened and squeaked a little, and turned to run down the very dark corridor towards a spot where it opened up into a wider room in the center of the building that stretched to the back of it; light from a far window spilled into the hall. He thanked whatever star he'd been born under that All Might had decided to train him up these past nine months; he'd never have been able to run this fast without that training.

He put a hand to his transceiver and spoke into it. "Uraraka!" Izuku gasped, ducking under another blast from Kacchan's explosive sweat. He felt the heat from it sear across his back, and he was sure it had burnt off some more of his mother-made costume. "Where are you? Have you found the weapon?"

Uraraka's chirpy but somewhat concerned voice crackled into his ear. _"Yeah, I did,"_ she confirmed, sounding rather abashed. _"But, uh, Iida found me too. And he cleared the room of all items, so I can't use my power to attack unless I get in close. And he's too fast for that… plus he already found me. Sorry!"_

"Don't worry about it." Izuku felt a wave of relief wash over him. At least Uraraka had found the weapon. "Where are you?"

" _In a bit of a wide open room in the center of the fifth floor! The weapon's in the back of the room, next to a few windows!"_

 _So she's right above me, then_ , he thought quickly, blinking in surprise.

"DON'T FUCKING IGNORE ME, DEKU!" bellowed a very annoyed Kacchan, but then again, annoyance was basically the blond's default setting. Izuku wasn't particularly concerned about _that_.

He raced into the wide-open, well-lit room and stopped a moment. "I think I'm right under you," he observed, stopping and turning to his rival. The beginnings of a plan was forming in his head: a desperate plan, but a plan nonetheless.

The more heavily muscled boy who now was in front of him also stopped suddenly, blinking and grinning widely.

"So!" he laughed, flexing his hands menacingly. "You've finally decided to stop running and fight, huh? But too bad. I'm fucking pissed! You won't even be able to block!"

Izuku bit his lip as Kacchan charged forward. "Uraraka, when you see the signal, attack Iida and get the weapon!" he said firmly, and he could practically hear the brunette blink rapidly through the earpiece of his transceiver.

" _W-wait, what signal!?"_ she stammered, but Izuku had no more time. His childhood frenemy was atop him—literally. The man in the black-and-red costume had shot himself into the air with an explosion aimed at the now-scorched floor, propelling himself over and behind Izuku.

 _Crap!_ Izuku thought, releasing his hand from his transceiver and wheeling around. But he was too slow. Two rapid explosions shook the floor of the open room, and the second one hit the middle of his back. His back _seared_ , and he cried out in pain as he felt the flesh over his spine burn. He stumbled forward, Uraraka's distant, worried cries of his name filling his ringing ears.

He hit the floor and rolled a foot or two before standing woozily to his feet. He shook his head clear from the pain as adrenaline rushed through his body.

"Use it!" Kacchan yelled furiously. He'd already landed and was now dashing forward again, those red eyes brimming with confidence and rage alike. "Fucking use your Quirk, you pretender! I'm gonna beat you down at your full power! I won't even have to use my strongest move!"

Izuku's hand twitched even as his opponent grasped his arm tight with his red-and-green gloved left hand. Then the boy flung his right hand behind him and fired off tons of very small explosions, and spun around behind Izuku so fast as a result that his eyes simply couldn't keep up. Then, suddenly, the ninth holder of One For All felt his feet leave the ground as he suddenly was lifted into the air, and slammed to the floor just as quickly. He coughed painfully, the air forced from his lungs with the impact.

Kacchan wasn't giving him any time to think. It was just as he said. If Izuku didn't master the five percent punch now… he was going to be completely and utterly beaten.

His whole body shook. He couldn't accept that.

There, lying on the floor, pinned down by Kacchan's firm hand, Izuku glared up defiantly at his frenemy. His vision swam a little, but he could see that in front of him, past his rival, lay the wall where Uraraka had said the weapon was stationed above. "Kacchan," he choked out, "do you remember what I said the day of the Sludge Villain incident? When you cornered me after classes were over?"

" _It's not like… It's not like I'm trying to compete with you or anything…"_

Kacchan twitched; he _hated_ recalling the Sludge Villain. "Yeah. What about it?"

"I take back everything I said then," Izuku growled, clenched his fist and squeezed his eyes shut as he focused. He squeezed his buttocks as hard as he could, and remembered the rising heat he'd felt in the Entrance Exam that coursed through his body powerfully. If the whole system of his body and his power was like a microwave, then what if he tried turning down how much heat was used? Then imagine the turntable microwave, cooking the egg evenly...

Kacchan sneered as Izuku turned stern, determined eyes on him and straightened his back.

The power crept into his veins, but much cooler this time; still warm, but not burning hot like he'd felt in the Entrance Exam. And better yet, it didn't feel like they'd break. With a desperate roar, Izuku kicked upward and the impressive force of it threw Kacchan off him. The explosion creator stumbled backward, coughing and looking at Izuku with surprise melting away the intimidation in those stark red eyes. Grateful for the increased distance between them, the green-eyed boy scrambled to his feet and slipped into a fighting stance.

"I WANNA WIN AND SURPASS YOU, YOU IDIOT!" Izuku screamed, and charged forward with surprising speed, green lightning crackling along his body, and punched at a still-sneering Kacchan.

"I DON'T CARE IF YOU'VE FIGURED OUT YOUR QUIRK OR WHAT, YOU'RE STILL BENEATH ME!" Kacchan bellowed, and went for his classic right hook, but Izuku was expecting it, and ducked and made to deliver an uppercut of his own. His eyes narrowed, surprise fleeing to be replaced by a rage-filled desire to prove himself. "DON'T LOOK AT ME LIKE YOU'RE ON MY LEVEL, BECAUSE YOU'RE NOT!"

"DETROOOIT…!" Izuku shouted.

 _The egg won't burst, it won't burst, it won't!_

"ORAAAA!" the spiky-haired blond snarled, grinning fiercely as he brought his other hand forward for an explosion directly at Izuku's chest.

" _SMAAAAASH!"_

 **BOOM!**

And the entire building trembled like an earthquake had shaken its foundations.


	7. Smoky Rock VS Creati-Spark

Chapter 7: Smokey-Rock vs Creati-Spark

Izukkun's punch connected directly with Bakugou's stomach, and I cheered as the blond got launched back, tumbling head over heels and then slamming head first into the wall. He slumped to the floor, dazed, and here in the observation room, a raucous explosion of chatter rose up among the students. He'd done it! His left arm was blackened from guarding against Bakugou's explosion, but he'd done it! My brother had controlled Full Cowl and beat Bakugou head on!

"HELL YEAH!" I cheered, whooping. "DAMN STRAIGHT, IZUKKUN!"

"He beat the strongest kid in the class," Mina breathed, eyes shining with interest. "That was _cool_."

Bakugou wasn't down completely, though, and slowly made his way to his feet, blood staining patches of his pale hair. Izukkun noticed this, gritted his teeth, and… uppercutted straight up at a hundred percent power.

It was as though someone had released a tornado in the building. A burst of wind with unbelievable force ripped upwards through to the roof.

"HOLY SHIT!" Kirishima yelped, jaw dropping as my host brother's punch sent a burst of All Might-level power clear up through the whole building. Enormous holes were torn in each floor above Izuku and Bakugou, creating a meteor shower of debris. "HOW MUCH STRENGTH DOES HE _HAVE_!?"

"Way more than any of us will ever have," I said dumbly, floored at having seen this level of strength in real life. It was… simply incredible. My eyes said they saw the wreckage from that single uppercut. My brain said _look again_. My eyes replied, _We're looking, but it's still there_.

Shoji gaped behind his face mask. "That's… the same kind of power All Might has…"

"I'm suddenly very glad Midoriya's on our side," Jirou mumbled, gulping.

And they haven't even seen the emergence of Madman Deku yet, I thought, grinning at their expressions. Oh, the Sports Fest was going to be _fun_.

Onscreen, Ochako grabbed a broken pillar and turned it weightless. She then heaved it up on her shoulder while Iida was distracted trying to dodge the flying debris, and shouted something that drew his attention. Then she smacked the debris with the side of said pillar, launching a good many pieces of it at the future class president and the fake weapon. Iida threw himself to the floor and guarded his face with his arms to avoid getting hit by as much of the oncoming pieces of cement as possible. Unfortunately, this action restricted his sight enough that when Ochako dropped the pillar, made herself weightless, and jumped clear across the gap in the floor, he didn't notice until she'd already landed hugging the weapon.

"HERO TEAM… _WIIIIIINS!_ " an ecstatic All Might bellowed into his mic. Ochako promptly slid off the weapon and knelt on the floor, throwing up while Iida worried over her like a mother. Izuku slumped over and promptly passed out, too injured from using One for All at 100% and guarding against Bakugou's explosion to remain standing. I sighed and shook my head fondly. At the end, he'd tricked Bakugou into believing he was going for a direct one-on-one fight, then uppercutted the air at 100% instead of Bakugou at 5%. Smart, but I had to shiver at the sight of his ridiculously bruised arm. I did _not_ want to think about how painful that had to be for him.

"How strange," Sero observed. "Even though the hero team won, they're all on the ground, and the villain team is perfectly fine - just dazed in Bakugou's case."

Two robots were sent in with a stretcher to retrieve Izukkun and take him to Recovery Girl. All Might then stepped into the building and steered the other three back into the observation room. Ochako gagged and held her stomach woozily, no doubt ridiculously sick from how much weight she'd negated. Bakugou stood pale and dumbfounded, eyes staring ahead disbelievingly. Only Iida appeared largely unaffected by the fight, although his fists were clenched and he had a bit of a gloomy aura around him.

"Now then!" All Might clapped his hands together and grinned blindingly at us all. "The time to discuss the battle is here! Young Iida is the MVP of this round… can anyone explain why?" Momo's hand shot up. "Young Yaoyorozu!"

She bowed respectfully. "Iida is the MVP because of all the fighters, he analyzed his opponents and prepared for encounters with them the most while acting as though it were a real situation. He successfully cleared the room of anything that Uraraka could have touched and used as a weapon against him, making her Quirk useless until the very end. On the other hand, Uraraka gave herself away to the enemy, and didn't take into account the fact that the debris hitting the weapon from her attack may have resulted in it exploding in a real-case scenario. Her attack put the whole mission in danger. Bakugou went off on his own without trying to rely on Iida to help and completely ignored Uraraka, allowing her to go on to the weapon room while he focused on Midoriya. He then lost his battle, anyway. As for Midoriya, although he recognized splitting up was the best option and led Bakugou away from Uraraka and won his fight, his final attack was reckless, doing unnecessary damage to the building they were trying to protect and risking setting the bomb off. The hero team only won because they were basically cheating and taking advantage of the fact that it was a mock battle. Iida operated the best under the circumstances."

Iida flushed so hard with pride and gratefulness that I swore he literally glowed.

All Might sweat-dropped. "Well, er, that was more detail than I was going to include," he said awkwardly, "but yes! That is correct. It is important to think of this not as a mock battle, but as real life. How would real heroes act in retrieving the weapon? How would real villains prepare for an attack? Keep this in mind! Now then, Team B and Team E, we have extra buildings prepared, so please take your places in the next one and wait for the signal to begin!"

Jirou and I waited several battles, carefully analyzing how our classmates fought. After the incredible showing the first two teams had had, everyone appeared to be pumped up and ready to go all out. I felt restless, concerned for Izuku in the infirmary and for my own fight. It was going to be tough fighting against Kaminari and not getting electrocuted… I swallowed. I'd just have to do the best I could.

At last, our turn rolled around.

Jirou and I made our way to the front of the building we'd be fighting in, one identical to Team A's and D's. We waited out in the warm air for Momo and Kaminari, the villain team this round, to get to wherever they wanted to stash their fake weapon. I tried to think about what the best way to approach this would be.

"If I had to guess," I said, frowning up at the building, "Kaminari is going to be their team attack dog. Momo will send him out to slow us down and/or stop us while she waits at the weapon."

"Why do you say that?" Jirou asked me, twirling an earphone jack around her finger. "Momo's Quirk is great for offense."

"True, but it's also the best suited of theirs for defense," I countered. "She can create tons of things for traps and such, or keep us at bay while we try and dodge projectiles or get past barriers she's set up or whatever. It's possible she'll set up some traps, then join Kaminari in hunting us down, but I kind of doubt it, because then how would they know if we entered the room? My bet is that Kaminari's supposed to shock us into submission and Momo will stay behind in case at least one of us gets by him."

Jirou considered this, then nodded. "I can see that."

"We'll need to try and avoid him if we can," I said, tapping my chin thoughtfully. "Both of us are bad match-ups against him."

"I can listen to check if he's coming with my jacks."

I nodded. "Yeah, good. That'll be helpful. You check if the coast is clear, then we'll make our way up to the weapons room. I can turn my head intangible, stick it through the wall, and check what traps they have."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Jirou said.

The buzzer sounded. " _Hero Team! Villain Team! Begin!_ "

Jirou started forward, but I placed a hand on her shoulder. "Wait," I said, and she looked at me quizzically. "They'll be expecting us to come at them from inside the building. It'll be easier to avoid them if we come from the outside."

Jirou's brow furrowed. "How would we do that?"

"...I don't know," I admitted stupidly.

Jirou rolled her eyes and stuck a jack into the wall. She listened closely. "The coast is clear," she said, nodding her head towards the door. "Come on, let's go."

We entered the building and hurried through the darkness towards where the staircase would be. We reached the closed door to the stairwell, and Jirou raised a halting hand. We paused while she listened.

"No one here," she said after a moment.

We made our way up the stairwell as quickly as we could. At each floor, we paused so Jirou could listen for footsteps or breathing. We didn't get any readings until the sixth floor.

"Kaminari's waiting outside the door," she whispered. "He's trying to keep as still and as hidden as possible, but I can hear him breathing. He's definitely waiting for us to come in so he can shock us and capture us. And Momo's at the far end of the floor, standing still. Her breathing is super faint, but I can still make it out. What do we do?"

I bit my lip as I thought about this. "Jirou, can your heartbeats tear through stone?"

"Yeah," she said, narrowing her eyes. "If I plug them into the amplifiers on my legs. Why?"

"Let's attack from above," I decided slowly. "We'll get as close as we can to where you heard Momo. Then after I suss out the area, aim down a blast loud enough to break the floor on this level, but not the one below."

She nodded curtly. "Got it." Then she smiled. "You're pretty good at planning."

I blushed.

We made our way up to the next floor, Jirou in front and me behind her. Her hand carefully grasped the seventh floor doorknob, then eased it open, being careful to limit the amount of sound made. She opened it a few inches this way, and then, satisfied, opened it quicker.

Something snapped, like a string suddenly pulling taut.

"EVAN, HIT THE FLOOR!" she yelped, ducking low, and I hesitated the barest of seconds before doing the same. A blue plastic crate, large enough to do some damage but not injure us _too_ badly, soared over our heads and into the stairwell. It clamored down the stairs, making me wince. The door below us groaned as it opened, and Kaminari's yellow spiky hair started to poke out as the crate fell down the stairs past him. He started rushing up towards us.

"WE FIGURED YOU MIGHT TRY THAT, AND RIGGED A CATAPULT TO LAUNCH THAT ONCE YOU OPENED THE DOOR!" Kaminari gloated, laughing like a cartoon villain. "THE SOUND ALSO LET ME KNOW WHAT YOU WERE DOING!"

"Shit!" Jirou cursed. She grabbed me by the hand and pulled me in the hallway beyond the door. We dashed past the activated catapult hidden in the shadows as quickly as we could, hearts pounding. "Shit, shit, shit, he's right behind us!"

"That was smart of them," I grunted, noticing how small yet strong Jirou's hand felt in my own. Her fingers felt calloused, like she'd spent years strumming guitar strings without a pick. Her fingers were warm and her grip strong.

"Admire them later," Jirou said, picking up the pace as, behind us, Kaminari reached our floor. "Move faster now!"

"Yes, ma'am!" I said. My feet pounded the floor a little harder.

"THERE IS NO ESCAPE!" Kaminari cackled. He slammed his hands on the floor. "Indiscriminate Shockwave-!"

"I CAST FIST!" I roared, wringing myself out of her grip and dashing back to punch our neighborhood Pikachu in the face before he could finish speaking. He squawked in surprise as well as pain and stumbled backwards into the stairwell. I slammed the door on him.

Jirou stared at me as I returned to her side. "' _I cast fist?'_ Really? Can you _be_ more of a nerd?"

"Yes," I said flatly. We rounded a corner, and I pointed forwards firmly. "ONWARDS, AOSHIMA!"

"...I regret everything," the purple-haired girl deadpanned.

I sniggered and filed _Jirou Annoyed_ under the Cute folder alongside _Jirou's Blush_.

"Hey, get back here!" Kaminari, who jad opened the door again, sputtered, and charged forward at us like a human Energizer bunny.

We dashed forward into the dimly lit halls, searching for a way towards where my partner had heard Momo. We didn't know the layout of the building all that well, so it was a bit slow-going, and I could feel the time limit ticking down. We lost our pursuer a little ways in, which was lucky. After a few more dead ends, we found ourselves outside a room that Jirou said sat above Momo's.

We carefully slipped inside it. I knelt on the floor and willed my Quirk to turn on for my head. Smoke filled the area around us as my head went intangible. I stuck it down through the floor, peering around at what Momo had set up.

As I'd thought, she'd rigged the place with traps. Luckily, thanks to a window at the busty Creation girl's back, I could see them all. She'd set up a trap that would drop a pile of logs on anyone who entered through the west door, another catapult with a crate on the east door, and spikes on the floor except for around her. She appeared on guard; no doubt Kaminari had let her know we had escaped him.

I quickly lifted my head up back through the floor before she could spot me. My smoke swirled through the air and filled my head back in.

"She's got spikes stuck up everywhere to stop us from walking around," I told Jirou, who nodded in understanding.

"I'll aim a localized blast of my heartbeat above her, then," she decided. "She left room for herself to move around if need be, right?"

"Yup. Just be careful - the weapon's a few feet behind her." Suddenly I thought of something as her earphone jack cord lowered. "Wait, remember what I was saying about them expecting an attack from indoors?"

She blinked. "Yeah?"

"Well, what if we -"

But before I could speak my plan, the door burst open, revealing a panting Kaminari. "AHAHAHA!" he guffawed, his hands sparking. "I'VE GOT YOU NOW!"

"Damn it!" Jirou yelped, her earphone jacks flicking forward to blast her heartbeat at him - to no effect. Of course he was wearing earplugs.

"INDISCRIMINATE SHOCKWAVE, ONE MILLION VOLTS!"

The blond planted his hands flat against the floor, and electricity crackled in the air, making my hair stand on end. Instinctively, I turned as much of my body intangible as I could while still being able to keep my clothes on, and smoke billowed everywhere. Jirou coughed as she breathed some in, then yelled; the electricity had reached her. A moment later, my body felt it, too, intense rivers of literally electric pain coursing through what flesh remained physical.

 _BA DUMP._

 _CRASH._

"Eh-Eh-Ehv-ah-ahn!" Jirou stammered, the electricity keeping her from speaking right. "Thuh-The wall!"

Kaminari rushed forward, a dumb expression on his face even as he wrapped capture tape around Jirou's wrist.

"ONE HERO CAPTURED!" All Might boomed through the communication mic in my ear.

The air stank of ozone, but the electricity was gone and I could move again. My whole body screamed in pain, but I looked at the wall to the outside - light spilled through a hole in it. Dust mixed with the smoke in the room, making my nose twitch.I thought quickly. That _BA DUMP…_ that must've been Jirou's heartbeat. Just before she'd been hit, she must've figured out my plan and blasted the wall with her heartbeat.

"Ehhhh~!" Kaminari groaned stupidly, sliding around and giving us thumbs up. He looked totally out of it. He must've gone beyond what he could handle, forcing himself to remain intelligent long enough to at least capture Jirou. The latter was now out cold, by the way, slumped against the floor.

It was up to me, now.

I winced as the tangible parts of my body sparked with pain, and sucked the rest of the smoke back into me. Hating how much my body hurt, I dashed toward the whole in the wall and carefully stepped on the edge of it. I turned, lowered one foot off, grabbed the edge, then lowered myself so I was dangling in midair above the window ledge below me.

I let go and dropped, wind rushing up past me for a brief second. Then I landed on the window sill below, wobbled terrifyingly as I nearly fell down to the concrete sixth stories down, and finally regained my balance. Summoning all my strength, I wrapped my fist in my brown jacket and slammed it through the window. Glass shattered inward, and as Momo gasped on the other side of the nuke, I reached forward through the broken window and grabbed the papier-maché weapon.

"Retrieved!"

"HERO TEAM… _WIIIIIINS_!"

~o~

"You absolute _madman_ ," Kirishima laughed, clapping me on the back later that evening as classes winded down. "That was _insane_. I thought you were going to fall off the freakin' building!"

"I still can't believe I didn't think to guard against the window," Momo groaned, clearly beating herself up over it. "It was such an obvious point of attack…"

"Hey, hey, we're all still in training," I reassured her with a smile. "Ya can't expect to think of every detail in the tension of battle. I'm just lucky Jirou figured out my plan - I don't know how I would've won against you by myself if she hadn't blasted that hole in the wall. You'd set things up ridiculously well, and that Quirk of yours is just too nasty to deal with. Not to mention how little movement I would've had if I had to come through the door like a normal person."

Several giggles and snickers rose up from our group at that All Might reference.

Momo blushed. "You really think I did well?"

I gave her a thumbs-up. "Yeah, dude, definitely. You nearly took me out with that catapult you rigged at the door on the seventh floor. If I hadn't ducked right when I did, it would've dazed me enough for Kaminari to capture me, I bet."

Jirou nodded. "Don't beat yourself up about it, Momo. Your plan was really good. Honestly, we very nearly lost."

"Thanks, you two," the easily most beautiful girl in our class said gratefully, cheeks pink. Jirou and I stared at the sight a little, then realized we were staring, and pointedly glanced away.

I could've sworn I heard Jirou mutter, " _I swear I wasn't gay when I woke up this morning_ …"

Momo blinked. "Did you say something, Kyouka?"

The triangular eyed girl started. "N-Nothing at all, nope!"

Kirishima snickered. Jirou flipped him the bird.

This, of course, earned a furious waving of the arms from Iida on the other side of the classroom. "Kyouka, that is a highly inappropriate sign to use in this prestigious school! How dare you disrespect the hundreds of our seniors who have sat in these very seats before us-!"

"Shut it, Engine Boy," Bakugou growled furiously, eye twitching in annoyance. "Your shit's exhausting."

The class quieted down as we all stared at him.

"...Huh, he finally said something," Rikido observed as the spiky, pale blond stood up and stomped past a dumbfounded Iida. This was a surprise because Bakugou had said absolutely nothing ever since he lost his fight against Izuku.

"...Did he just make an _engine_ _pun_?" I said, blinking quickly. This was a surprise because… _who the fuck expected Bakugou to be punny?_

As the class all stared, Bakugou, bookbag and all, stomped right out the room, a strange look on his face. A couple minutes passed where we all just stared at each other in disbelief.

"What a weirdo," Jirou said at last. She turned to me. "You said you went to his middle school, right? Has he _always_ been like that?"

"Rude and crude, yes," I said contemplatively. "Upset? ...This is the first time I think I've seen him truly upset."

Kirishima hummed. "Huh. Well, anyway, you and your brother both did really well today, dude. I was surprised!"

"Host brother," I corrected. "But thanks."

"It's a shame he's still in the infirmary and missed all our evening classes… I hope he's better now."

As if on cue, the ridiculously tall door slid open and revealed a tired-looking, green-haired, freckled boy.

"MIDORIYA!" half the class roared happily, rushing to welcome him back.

"Man, that was so cool!" Kaminari gushed. "That power of yours was incredible!"

"Your fight was super manly, dude!" Kirishima agreed with a wide grin. "You punched the crap outta Bakugou!"

Ochako hovered worriedly. "Is your arm okay!?"

"Yeah," Izukkun said, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly. "Recovery Girl's amazing. She fixed it up, no problem."

Mina hopped up and down, grinning madly. "You did a super good job dodging and attacking!" she cheered.

His eyes fell on me, and I smiled and gave him a thumbs-up. You did well, kid. My brother smiled in relief. Then he returned to skimming the room… and his face fell.

"Guys… where's Kacchan?"

"He left a couple minutes ago, kero," Tsu said, looking a little worried. "He looked weird and he hasn't said anything since you won."

Izuku quickly pushed through the students around him, wide-eyed, and rushed out the door after his childhood frenemy.

Momo watched him go with a worried frown. "Those two have some sort of bad blood, don't they? Bakugou seems to hate him… Will he be alright?"

I rubbed the side of my head. "Well, I think Bakugou's kind of… not in the right state of mind right now," I admitted. "As far as I know, this is the first time he's ever lost a direct battle with anyone, and he's got… _a tad_ of an inferiority complex, to put it mildly. Especially regarding Izukkun, whom he viewed up until recently as the weakest of the weak."

Some of the class winced.

"But I think Izukkun will be alright," I said, nodding. "Bakugou's got a smart head on his shoulders, and he's not the kind to actually hurt people he dislikes unless they're villains; sure he'll _threaten_ it, but he never goes through. And he's able to admit to himself when he's made a mistake - he won't take it out on Izukkun. Honestly, I think they need this."

Ochako, Tsu, and Mina exchanged glances.

"I want to go watch what they do!" Mina chirped, rushing out the door. Ochako hovered with uncertainty for a moment before Tsu shrugged and followed the pinkette. Then she went off after them determinedly.

"The fated battle between men!" she announced as she disappeared out the door.

"Man," Sero said, laughing. "This class is nuts. I like that."

I chuckled and stretched. "Sero's sexuality has been confirmed."

"Oi, shut it, Evan," Sero said, though he was grinning, too.

"So loud in here," both Shinsou and Tokoyami grumbled. I ignored them and turned to Jirou, Kirishima, Kaminari, and Sero.

"Oi, bros… and Jirou."

Jirou frowned at me.

"Want to go see a movie?"

"FAST AND FURIOUS 15," both Kaminari and Sero said suddenly in perfect tandem.

"Yeah, sure, why not?" Kirishima shrugged. "I ain't got anything better to do tonight."

Jirou thought about it, then nodded. "I'll see what's playing," she decided, pulling out her phone.

Momo blushed a little. "Is… is it alright if I tag along?" she asked. "I've never really had the chance to go to the movies with friends. And you guys seem nice."

"Sure thing, Momo," Jirou said, smiling. "It'll be nice not to be the only one who isn't an idiot this time."

"Oi!" us boys said mock-indignantly, then descended into fits of laughter. It was true, after all.

And so we added another to our friend group.


	8. A Declaration of War

Chapter 8: A Declaration of War

After the movie we went to, the start of the newest Star Wars trilogy, ended, I sat in my room in the Midoriyas' apartment, staring at a green Five Star notebook labelled _Future_ in English. A tight frown pulled at my lips as I mulled over it. It was open to a page marked with a date three days from now. If my timeline was correct -- and I knew it was, I'd watched season 1 probably twenty times at least -- then that would be the day when Shigaraki would use the reporters to shift attention away from his information stealing.

I'd told myself that I wouldn't tell anyone the future I knew. But I'd made some good friends here, and I didn't want to see them hurt. Not even Bakugou, who was hardly a friend.

I chewed my lower lip.

What should I do?

The attack on USJ was overall beneficial to the 1-A students, as it showed them how to overcome fear and fight back against the enemy. But at the same time, several of them nearly _died_ , and what if my and Shinsou's presences in it changed something?

Then again, the costs _hardly_ outweighed the benefits. USJ had given the first years of 1-A an unforeseen drive. And only Izuku and Eraserhead had had any really _bad_ injuries at the end.

I tapped a pencil eraser against my chin. Was there something I could do to help without changing too much?

I didn't know.

I hated not knowing.

Groaning, I put my pencil down and instead thought about the movie.

It had been really fun, and we'd all enjoyed it a lot. Star Wars was something that _everybody_ could appreciate and bond over. The theater had been pretty packed, and I was amused by all the different sizes of seats for all different kinds of Quirks. Seeing people with ram's horns walking down the sidewalk or a one-eyed cyclops selling me popcorn no longer freaked me out, but instead both excited and amused me. The cast of the movie looked a lot less CGI than the Star Wars movies I remembered, too.

Perks of living in a society of mutants - filming fantasy and sci-fi movies and shows got a heck of a lot cheaper and easier. With all the money saved from generating 3D models of strange aliens and then animating them, more of the movie's budget was allocated to the special effects, stunts, and battle sequences. The action was a hell of a lot sharper and flashier than the films from my time, helped in no small amount by the fact that many of the actors had Quirks which increased their stamina, speed, agility, jumping height, strength, etc. The lead protagonist - a descendent of Kylo Ren - and the lead antagonist - a new Emperor, surprise, surprise - both had actual telekinesis type Quirks, too. So some of the Force powers were actually _real_.

I had been instantly jealous. Telekinesis is so much flashier than my Smoke Quirk and far more versatile. My Quirk, in comparison, was extremely situational. It was suited far more to sneaky missions than anything else. In that sense, I sympathised with Hagakure a lot. Neither of us were particularly useful in a direct fight.

Speaking of which, I really needed to brush up on my martial arts training… My eyes strayed over to the red punching bag we'd set up in my room. I sighed at the thought of how my knuckles were going to be sore after this.

Oh well.

I got up from the desk and started up my training again.

~o~

Somehow or other, word that All Might was teaching at U.A. had gotten out to the public. It was all anyone was talking about on the popular social media sites like Tap, or the superhero forums like Quirkwars. The first reporters showed at the Academy's doorstep immediately the next morning. Unfortunately for them, it was a Saturday, so no one was there. That was hardly enough to stop the mass media, though, and they camped out there for the next two days, their number growing larger and larger with each passing day until they had formed a righteous sea of heads, cameras, and mics. By the time Monday arrived and classes resumed for the week, there were no less than two hundred reporters swarming the gates of our school and shouting frustratedly for their questions to be answered.

Izuku gaped at the sheer amount of people there. "Holy crap," he said, his knees on the verge of shaking. "S-so many reporters… and they're all here because of All Might?"

My eye twitched. "They're in our way," I grumbled, glaring icily at the reporters. "We're going to be late to class by the time we push past all these morons."

"You there, students of U.A.!" A tall newsman with a thick goatee and a slick red suit spotted us and shoved a microphone at us. "What's it like having All Might as a teacher? How skilled is he at his job? Do you know why he has decided to teach this year's Class 1-A?" Then he paused and blinked at me with his three eyes. "Oh, wait, you're that kid from the other world. Can you tell me -?"

"You're in our way and disturbing our peace," I grumbled, shoving past him. "Move it."

"Ah, wuh-wuh-wait!" said Izuku, whose stammer always cropped up in large crowds. He jogged hurriedly after me, being sure to keep in the small path that parted around me as I pushed my way into the crowd. As we made our way to the gates, which were open as of yet, I spied our other classmates cornered by various other reporters. Ochako was looking a little overwhelmed as an older lady hounded her for sources for quote mining, and Bakugou was scowling deeply at the poor guy who had picked him out. Aoyama, on the other hand, looked entirely in his element, literally sparkling as he posed dramatically and talked about All Might's class. I wondered briefly if he was like Todoroki and had inherited some sort of sparkle Quirk on top of his Navel Laser.

At last, we made our way into the school grounds and five minutes later, class began. Eraserhead was not a morning person on the best of days, but this morning he looked particularly disgruntled - no doubt because he'd had to settle down the mass media to allow our classmates to get to class on time.

"Good morning," he grumped. The frown on his face and his tired, bored expression said he did not think it was all that good of a morning. "You all did well in yesterday's combat training, but Bakugou, you're talented, so don't act like a child."

"I know." The spiky haired pale blond scowled.

"And Midoriya, you seem to have found some control over your Quirk. Good. But use that control to fully defeat your opponent instead of flinging it away and breaking yourself for an indirect win. Real villains won't just stop after the heroes reach their goal, and if you're KO'd, they'll easily kill you."

"Yes, sir," Midoriya said, rightfully humbled.

"Now let's move on to homeroom business. It's a bit short notice, but today, there is something we must settle before anything else…"

My classmates visibly stiffened, no doubt remembering Aizawa's class from our first day. Tension built in the room, and a smirk slowly spread up my lips as I barely held back laughter, fully aware of the accidental troll our homeroom teacher was pulling without even being aware of it.

"...Choosing our class officers, starting with president and vice-president."

Stunned silence fell for a second or two. Then a cacophony of noise exploded in the room as just about everyone in the class leaped to their seats and shouted to be picked, hands quivering high in the air. The only people not losing their minds over this were diligent Iida, the beautiful and serene Momo, Izuku (who looked particularly small as he sat scrunched up in his seat, hand shaking as he barely raised it) and Jirou. Those disinterested in this included Tokoyami, Shinsou, and me.

Aizawa's frown deepened at the chaos and he sighed tiredly. "I couldn't care less who is picked or how it is decided. You all handle that. Just be sure to get it done by the end of class." So saying, he immediately dropped to the floor, pulled out that ratty yellow sleeping bag from… somewhere, and zipped it up around all but his face. He promptly went to sleep.

The black-haired, unevenly shaven man gave approximately the same number of fucks as Donald Trump's brain cells.

"Pick me!" Kaminari shouted eagerly, grinning at us all and sticking his hand high in the air. "I wanna be President, guys!"

Kirishima said, "Class President is the manliest officer! I'll be the prez!"

"You need a calm, level head to run the class," Sero argued. "I'm the guy to pick!"

"EVERYONE!" A shout rang out across the room, overpowering the rest of the class. It took me a moment to realize it was Iida, who was now standing up and staring seriously at us all. "If we are to choose the class president from amongst ourselves, then the best option would be to handle it democratically! Let's pick by vote!"

"Vote?" Mina said skeptically.

Shinsou raised an eyebrow. "We've barely known each other for three days. That's hardly enough time to know who the best choice would be."

Kirishima nodded. "Yeah, and everybody's just gonna vote for themselves, anyway!"

"That's exactly why someone who gets multiple votes would be the best choice!" Iida declared. "With so little information about each other, if we can already see the signs of being a leader in our fellow classmates, doesn't that mean they're the best for the job?"

"You say that…" Tsuyu said, a finger scratching at her chin, "...but your hand is raised the highest, kero."

I rolled my eyes as the class thought about Iida's proposal. "What if we add a rule that you _can't_ vote for yourself; you have to vote for someone other than you?" I asked.

Everyone stared at me for a few seconds.

"...I didn't think of that," Shouji said, blinking.

Hagakure clapped excitedly. "That sounds fun!"

"That is a smart idea," Momo agreed thoughtfully. "It practically ensures that there will be at least one student with multiple votes."

"Is everyone in agreement with this?" Iida asked. We all nodded. "Then we shall proceed to vote for the class president. Please write the name of the person you want to vote for on a slip of paper! Does anyone want to tally the votes?"

I shrugged and raised my hand lazily. "I don't care all that much about this, so I'll write everyone's names on the board and tally the votes." I got up and walked to the chalkboard, grabbing a piece of chalk.

Starting from seat no. 1 and moving up in numerical order, the students gave me their names and I wrote them on the board. That done, I sat down at my desk to write my own vote - _Tenya Iida_.

At the end, the top two votes were Midoriya Izuku with five votes and Yaoyorozu Momo with four. I'd somehow tied for third place with Iida and Kirishima, each of us having received two votes. Bakugou had gotten zero, and he was not a happy camper about that.

"WHO VOTED FOR DEKU!?" he barked furiously, in utter disbelief that my brother had gotten five whole votes.

Momo bit her lip a little. "Frustrating," she ground out, reluctantly accepting vice.

Iida looked stunned. "I got votes?" he said, staring wide-eyed at the board. "I got votes…"

Izuku's jaw had dropped, and a strange, strangled sound rose up quietly from his throat. His face was entirely pale and his legs shook horribly as he stumbled dumbly up to the front of the classroom. A disappointed Momo joined him in front of the chalkboard by the teacher's podium.

"It is decided," Iida said at last, getting over the fact that he'd gotten votes. "Our class president is Midoriya and Yaoyorozu is the vice-president."

"I-I'll do m-m-muh-my best," Izuku gulped.

Momo just sighed, her ponytail bouncing as she tilted her head down.

Kirishima grinned. "I'm cool with this. Midoriya showed great battle sense in class the other day and looked really manly."

Rikido Sato nodded. "He's definitely smart enough for the job," he agreed.

Aoyama sparkled. "And nearly as flashy as moi!"

Koda - _that_ was the Gentle Giant's name - nodded silently.

"You'll do great, Deku!" Ochako cheered.

"Momo's great for vice, too," Jirou mused. "She analyzed that first fight really well."

Kaminari laughed. "Yeah, she really hit the nail on the head!"

He blushed deeply and I sniggered. Poor kid was so out of his element. I'd feel bad for him, but he looked so out of place up there it was kind of hilarious.

"Aizawa-sensei!" Iida said loudly, leaping to his feet. "We have chosen the class-president and vice-president as you have asked! They are Midoriya and Yaoyorozu respectively!"

"Wonderful," the sleepy teacher mumbled blandly without even cracking his eyes open. He sounded like he couldn't care less. "Now choose the other officers."

"Yes, sir!"

~o~

"So, who do you guys think is the best girl in our class?"

Jirou glowered at Kaminari. "Oi, knock it off!"

"What?" he whined, smirking. "It's just a question."

"If I had to choose Best Girl, it'd be…" Sero trailed off, blinking. He frowned and scratched his cheek. We all waited for his answer, Jirou's eye twitching. "Huh. That's… actually a really hard choice to make. I don't know who I'd choose.

It was lunch time and Kaminari, Kirishima, Sero, Shinsou, Jirou and I all sat eating at our table together. Yakisoba had been on the menu today, and it was very good. Lunch Rush made delicious food.

Kaminari nodded quickly. "I know, right? All of 'em are really cute and cool!"

Jirou blushed a little at this. "I'm not cute," she murmured, staring down at her small chest with a frown.

"Yes you are," I said immediately without even thinking about it. "In fact, you're _very_ cute." Then I blushed as much as Jirou when I realized what had come out of my mouth.

"Ohhhh?" Kirishima smirked and leaned forward conspiratorially. "What's this? The otherworlder has a thing for our punk rock lady?"

"I do not!" I protested too quickly, throwing my arms up to form a large x. My face burned fiercely. "Huh-uh, no way!" Jirou stared at me, face red and expression unreadable. I fumbled for something to say to save myself. "I… I just honestly think that you're cute, Jirou," I said lamely.

"...Thanks," she said in a small voice, sounding both embarrassed and pleased.

"Hoh hoh," Kaminari snickered. He leaned forward and rested his chin on his elbow as his other hand turned his fork to swirl his spaghetti around it. "Get a room, you too."

We glared at him.

"If you ask me," Kirishima said with a grin, drawing all eyes to him, "Mina's the best. She's super cool and manly. I saw her save some underclassmen from this terrifyingly gigantic dude who looked like he was about to beat them up, once. It was badass!"

"Momo's definitely the hottest, though," Kaminari argued. He inhaled the chunk of spaghetti he'd swirled on his fork.

Jirou gulped. "Y-Yeah, can't argue with that…" she said reluctantly and somewhat absently. "Momo really is…"

As if on cue, Momo appeared behind Kaminari, holding her lunch tray. "Did someone mention me?" she asked.

Jirou's eyes widened and her mouth went slack. She swallowed as her eyes flicked up and down Momo's perfect hourglass form. "... _Hot,_ " she squeaked, so quietly I could barely hear it.

The shipper in me cheered. Yes, what I'd heard the other day _hadn't_ been my imagination! Jirou was crushing on Momo! MomoJirou had always been a favorite MHA ship of mine… A part of me was a little disappointed at the same time, though. A selfish part of me.

Kaminari and Sero took a look at the small girl staring unfocused at Momo, exchanged glances and snickered.

"Oh, nothing," Kaminari told Momo with a sly grin. "Just trying to decide Best Girl."

Momo blinked. "Best Girl?"

"You guys are too noisy," Shinsou muttered, taking a bite of noodles. "This conversation is pointless. We're heroes-in-training, not otakus thirsting over anime girls." Momo blinked in confusion again at this.

Jirou jerked back to the real world from whatever thought she'd been lost in. " _Thank_ you!" she groaned, glaring at the four of us.

"In any case," Momo said eagerly, "do you all mind if I sit here with you? I'm afraid I don't really have very many other places to sit, and you're all wonderful friends! I would love to sit and talk with you all!"

 _She's so cute and bouncy there's no way we could deny that even if we wanted to_ , was the thought that crossed all of our minds at the same time, except for Shinsou, who was quite possibly asexual. He just kept eating his lunch without a care in the world.

"Oh, no, please do," I said, grinning warmly at the girl who'd gone to the movies with us. I scooted over on the booth to make room for her, and she shot me a grateful smile before sitting next to me.

"I'm so happy to have become friends with you all," she gushed, picking up her utensils and preparing to dig into her food. She'd chosen some fattier foods and a lot of fresh fruit, too, probably to make up for the junk that powered her lipid-based Creation. "I never really had that many before coming to U.A."

"Don't mention it," Jirou said, messing with her earphone jack cord.

Sero opened his mouth to chime in, but his words were lost over the sudden, obnoxious blaring of an alarm. We all jumped and glanced around as confusion and panic rose up in my friends.

"What the hell?" Kaminari yelped. He leaped to his feet, fear and concern etched on his face. "What's going on!? What's with that alarm?"

Shinsou looked up, also worried. "Did someone break in?"

" _There has been a Level 3 security breach,_ " a voice on the loud speakers announced atop the alarm, drawing gasps from my friends. I narrowed my eyes. " _All students, please remain calm and evacuate outdoors immediately. I repeat, please remain calm_ …"

"Could it be -" Kirishima shot to his feet, eyes wide.

"- Villains!?" Kaminari and Jirou gulped.

All around us, fearful whispers rose up, quickly transforming into loud exclamations, and finally becoming full-blown shouts of panic. First-years, second-years, and third-years alike bolted for the cafeteria exits, their trays of food forgotten. Their tension was so thick you could cut it with a knife.

"Oi, oi, oi, this is really happening!" Kirishima gulped, moving to evacuate with the other students. "We gotta get outta here!" Momo, Jirou, and Sero blinked out of their stupor and rose to their feet, too, but I spoke up.

"Guys, relax. It's probably just the media."

Kaminari froze and blinked. "...That…"

"Makes a lot of sense," everyone admitted, sweatdropping. They hovered with uncertainty for a few moments, then shrugged and sat back down with me. Other students clearly had the same idea, because not everyone was running to the quickly growing mob in the halls. The redheaded Kendou from Class 1-B ate at the other end of the cafeteria with her classmates Testutetsu and Awase, and I thought I spied the U.A. Big 3 chatting peacefully over trays of soup and sushi up on the raised part of the room.

"Those reporters were annoying this morning," Shinsou grumbled. He frowned in the direction of the school gates. "Do you think they're always like that for heroes?"

"Pretty much," I said with a shrug. I took a bite of roasted chicken, enjoying the taste of the barbeque sauce on it, and swallowed. "They tracked me like a bunch of bloodhounds when I got out of the hospital after arriving here, so I can only imagine what it must be like for the pros. Although I guess it's possible to avoid the eye of the media if you don't want them on your tail."

"Doing so would hurt your ranking, probably…" Momo mused. She deftly cut the steak she'd chosen, holding her fork in her left hand and knife in the right, all prim and proper. "Since the public wouldn't know much about you, your popularity would fall. But I suppose that also might be a good thing, right?"

Kirishima frowned. "I guess… if the public won't know how you fight or what your Quirk is and all, the villains won't, either. But I dunno. I think I'd prefer it if everyone knew about me; that way I could reassure and inspire people, like Crimson Riot did."

"That's pretty manly of you!" Kaminari said, grinning and patting him on the back.

The redhead laughed and rubbed the back of his head. "I try!"

Shinsou furrowed his brow and sighed. "I think I'd prefer to play things like Eraserhead…" he muttered.

"That's very reasonable," I said, smiling. "Both methods of heroism are fine, I think."

Jirou smiled, too. "Be the hero you want to be, huh? I can get behind that."

While we chatted happily and peacefully about how we'd interact with the media in our professional careers, we were unaware of the darkness crawling into our school right under our noses. We didn't know about the ridiculously short man with a nose as long as a broadsword who stalked through the lower halls, empty since all the students were crowded in the corridors outside the cafeteria, in broad daylight. We also didn't know about the bucket of red, sickly scented liquid in his hands.

He made his way calmly to a staircase. No less than three teachers happened to spot him on his path to his destination: Snipe, Power Loader, and Thirteen. The midget of a man, dressed smartly in a suit, tie, and top hat with silver tufts of hair poking out, pointed his finger at each of them. Pink light blared, and they froze in their tracks, allowing him to walk straight by.

The moment he was out of their potential sight, they started moving again.

None of them later reported remembering having seen him that afternoon.

He strolled up to Class 1-A's extremely tall door - "Damn giant heroes," he muttered with a hint of jealousy at this - and opened it. He casually walked in like he belonged there. No one was inside, although there was a very smoothly laid tablecloth on the first student desk, with a tray of distinctly French food on it. The main raised an eyebrow at this, but shrugged - whoever had been eating in here had clearly evacuated in a panic as per the instructions of that blasted alarm blaring in the halls.

Humming, the villain known as Imperius enjoyed his debut after breaking out of prison by dipping his brush into the blood that sloshed in his bucket, walking up to the chalkboard, and reaching up to write -

Imperius frowned. He stretched.

He cursed and set the bucket and brush down to quickly grab one of the student's chairs. He stood on the chair, grumbling about being vertically challenged, and continued.

Fifteen minutes later, when we got back to class, all of us froze in numb shock at the words painted on the green chalkboard:

 _Be wary, All Might._

 _We are here._

 _Soon, you won't be_.

The perpetrator was nowhere to be found, and the only other evidence of a break-in was the front gates - if one could even call a huge pile of iron dust "front gates."

School that day was cancelled early.


End file.
